Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Published: Philomel Books, February 2nd, 2016
Pages: 391
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5

How I Felt: Another beautiful historical fiction from Ruta Sepetys. The talent and passion while reading her books is quite evident. I hope she continues to write books in this genre in the future because they are so good and she is so talented.

I cried so much. I loved all of these characters. I loved how each one was so distinct and I never forgot whose perspective I was reading from. They were all so unique and had such strong voices. I grew to love the majority of them very much. I say majority because I hated Alfred. He creeped me out. Badly. I hated his perspective because it was so majorly warped. He was so delusional I couldn't tell if it was an act or if this guy was for real. And the whole thing with this Hannelore girl was a little weird too. To sum up, Alfred is weird and I don't like him.

I'm so happy we got to see what happened to Joana. In Between Shades of Gray Lina is constantly wondering how her cousin is doing. By getting to see from Joana's perspective we learn about what caused Lina's family to be arrested and what happened in those few years between the last chapter and the epilogue of Between Shades of Gray.

Florian is a precious cinnamon roll and must be protected at all costs. I love Florian.

Emilia had me sobbing the most. I felt so attached to her after getting to know her full story. When revelations were made about her past, I bawled my eyes out. I felt so bad for her, and she was so young. The ending also had me bawling my eyes out for her. Gosh, these books make me cry like nobody's business.

Another character I loved was the Shoe Poet. I loved getting to hear him describe people based on their shoes. He was so wise. I love elderly in books. It's so important that they share their story.

I love how Ruta writes books on topics ignored by many others. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff had a much higher casualty toll than the Titanic, yet hardly anyone knows about it. I love how Ruta is able to make me care so deeply for these fictional characters, yet also inform and educate me on an important and devastating tragedy from history that most often gets neglected.

Overall, I loved this book. I don't know which of Ruta's two books that I've read is my favourite. I love them both so deeply. I highly recommend you read this one as well. This story deserves to be heard. I would suggest reading Between Shades of Gray before this one so you can connect the story lines together, but it isn't necessary to understand either novel. Beautiful.

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*
*Images taken from Google.ca 

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Published: Speak, April 3rd, 2012
Pages: 352
Source: Paperback, purchased
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5

How I Felt: Oh my gosh what do I even say? Nothing could ever do this book justice. It was beautiful, brilliant and emotional. I loved it; I'm so glad I read it. I honestly think everyone needs to read this book. It's so eye-opening, Ruta Sepetys is brilliant.

Firstly, I want to say that I loved the writing. Absolutely loved it. I love how she ends chapters. They end on such powerful one-liners that either make you cry or make you think. Too good ugh.

Let me just say that this book had me bawling like a baby. Reading Lina's reactions to things and how everyone around her rallied together to support each other had me feeling all the emotions. So many heartfelt moments. And what made this book all the more emotional was that this was based on true events, events that not too many people talk about. What made me cry the most, was how cruel the secret police were, and yet the prisoners were always kind to them. Always.

This has become one of my favourite books of all time and I will forever recommend it to every person I ever meet. Lina's story is one that needs to be shared with people; everyone should be made aware of the injustices done to these people.

I love Lina, I love Jonas I just love this book so much. I highly recommend it if you haven't yet picked it up. It's a heavy read because of all the horrible things that happened, but it's definitely worth it. Perfection. I want to read all of Ruta's books now.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend it to everyone, even if you aren't the biggest fan of historical fiction. Despite the heavy topic, Ruta's writing is so easy to read. I flew through this book and I can't wait to read more of her works in the future. 

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*
*Image taken from Google.ca 

My Summer TBR!

Sorry for the recent lack of posts! Exams have finally ended and I spent a whole week just binge reading to decompress from the school year and it felt so good. Now that I've had a break I'm ready to jump back into blogging!

I don't usually make TBRs for myself because I'm the worst at sticking to them, but I decided to share a list of the books I plan on reading this summer. Now that school's over, like I said, I've had so much free time on my hands so I've been filling it with reading! To add to my current mess of a TBR pile, my birthday is coming up so I will be spending a lot of birthday money at the bookstore (oops?). Anyways, enough rambling, let's get to it!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo- the fact that I haven't read this yet is a little ridiculous. I got it when it first came out and I've heard nothing but good things so there's really nothing holding me back.

Winter by Marissa Meyer- I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna finish this series. I've been putting this one off because I don't want it to enddd. I love this world and these characters so much!

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid- I swear every TBR I've made has had this book on it. I just am never in the mood to pick it up and I'm not sure if I'll like it or not. Excuses, excuses.








Riders by Veronica Rossi- I loved the Under the Never Sky series and this one is about the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Need I say more?












Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld- I have been trying to read this book for about 2 years. I don't know what it is about Scott Westerfeld's writing but I've never been able to get into it or enjoy it. I love the concept for this book so I do hope I am able to like it.







A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro- This being a Holmes and Watson retelling immediately piqued my interest. Finding out that this is a series has made me want to put it off a bit but now I just want to read it because I have high hopes that I'll like it.







How to Love- I have had my eye on this for a while. I don't know why I've never picked it up before but now that I own it I have no excuse. This to me, seems like the perfect book to read in the summer.







Alright, I'm going to keep this list brief so I don't set myself up for too much disappointment. I hope I'll be able to read all these and not get extremely lazy and just sleep all summer like I usually do. What are your reading plans for the summer?

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

May Bookish Wrap-up!

May was definitely a more successful month for me book-wise. For some reason, I was able to plow through more books than I thought I'd be able to, and I was looking forward to reading for the whole month. These last few months, school has left me so drained I don't even have energy to read. The torture! Okay, this is getting rambly I'm just going to dive on in.

Favourite New Releases:

1. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. The queen's new book has arrived! I can't wait to find out what goes on in this book because I've heard so many things! (This is also what I'm currently reading.)
2. The Crown by Kiera Cass. This is the fifth and final book in the Selection series and so many tears were shed when I read this book. It's become such a large part of my reading life and will always have a special place in my heart as one of the first YA books I ever picked up. (Also, story time: my friend and I literally called every bookstore in the area hunting for this book because no one had it but then we ended up finding it on sale!)
3. The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye. I've heard so many good things about this book. It's also set it Russia. An instant buy, basically.
4. Ruined by Amy Tintera. I loved her Reboot duology so I'm beyond excited to pick this up and see how well she writes fantasy! Another book I've heard so many good things about.
5. The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson. New Morgan Matson book! I'm ready for cuteness and squeals of joy!

Favourite Posts from Other Bloggers:
I've had more time to browse around the internet and read more posts this month. Well...I only really have one post but it's more than last month so I'm counting that as an accomplishment.

Cait (Paper Fury)'s  post on 10 dreadful things that will happen if you read too much. 

My Blog Posts:
Success! I managed to post three reviews this month! *gives self a pat on the back*

My review for: That Boy by Jillian Dodd 
My review for: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard 
My review for: Queen of Shadows by the Queen Herself Sarah J. Maas 

Book Haul:
I bought a lot of books this month and may have broken my book-buying ban...whoops?

• The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh- I am in love with Khalid.
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes- I bought this to read before watching the movie and there were tears everywhere it's ridiculous.
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas- This one is huge and I love it. Can't wait to finish it and write out all my thoughts!
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys- My friend raves about this book so I'm really excited to read it myself. Also, I saw a video where the author explains everything that went into writing this and it was so heartbreaking yet beautiful I may have cried and I can't wait to read this now.

What I Read: I read nine books this month. I'm so proud of myself.
Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking. 4/5. This is the second book in the Kanen Chronicles series. I loved how this book continued on the events of the first one. I definitely enjoyed this series more than the Trylle trilogy. Amanda Hocking's books are so addicting.
The Crown by Kiera Cass. 5/5. I'm so sad this series is over. My heart hurts just thinking about it. I love Kiera Cass and I can't wait to read more of her books in the future.
Crystal Kingdom by Amanda Hocking. 4.5/5. This one was my favourite book in the series. I loved the action and the mystery and all the twists. I was also very happy with how everything ended.
Consequence by Shelly Crane. 5/5. This is a novella that bridges the gap between the Significance series, and the series that follows this children of the main characters. Do I even need to talk about how good this was? It's pretty much a given with these books to me.
That Boy by Jillian Dodd. 2/5. Did not like. Would not recommend. I just found the writing and the main character to be incredibly immature. If you love contemporary romance maybe you should give this a shot, but it just wasn't for me.
Tuesday's with Morrie by Mitch Albom. 5/5. This is my favourite book that I have had to read for school. It just had me feeling all of the things. I love how after reading this, it feels like you know Morrie, like he's your friend too. I was reading this is class and trying to hold in my tears at the end because it was so beautiful!
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. 4/5. I read this at the same time as my friend. We were both a little hesitant going into it because it was hard to adjust to the world but then by the end we loved it and became obsessed!
The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh. 5/5. This book was perfect. Perfect. I can't express my emotions clearly I love this series so much.
Me Before you by Jojo Moyes. 4/5. This book made me ugly cry. I was both sad and mad and I really commend Jojo for being able to make me feel so many emotions and for making me love her characters so much.

Favourite New Author: Hands down Renee Ahdieh. I loved the Wrath and the Dawn duology. I will literally read anything she writes now. I think her books will be at least in the top three of my favourite books of the year so far. I'm not even kidding I still think about this world and what the characters are doing after finishing the series. This rarely happens and I don't know what to do. She's so good at writing twists I never knew who to trust and I loved it!

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

That Boy by Jillian Dodd

That Boy by Jillian Dodd
Published: Jillian Dodd Inc., January 13th, 2014
Pages: 303
Source: e-book, purchased
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 2/5

How I Felt: The end of this book is what got it a second star. About 90% of this had me rolling my eyes and trying not to scream. I picked this book up because I wanted a cute, quick romance that I could read trying to come off a fantasy kick. Nope. I didn't get that at all. All I got was frustration.

First I want to talk about the narration. Jayden was incredibly immature. This book starts off when she's a young child. It's the story of her growing up with her neighbours and friends Danny and Philip. I thought she would mature as the story went on and she got older but no. It was the same narration when she was a child and when she was 21. I couldn't stand the immaturity. Her decision making was awful, and I was repeatedly screaming at the book trying to knock some sense into her. Also, her narration bothered the heck out of me. I'm not sure if it's the writing or just Jayden herself. I don't know if it was supposed to be part of her character but it was too much for me. She would think about something and then go off on a rant in her head. It got so annoying. She literally talked about the history of beanpoles for a few pages and provided a legitimate definition.  Quotes from a dictionary. I can't.

More on the writing, I also didn't like how J.J. would address the reader. She would say things along the lines of "You probably already guessed that." Personally, I hate this in books. I don't want the character to address me because when I read it's a chance for me to escape my world and become the character. It just seems a little unnatural to me when it's less of a stream of consciousness and more like a voice-over in a movie.

One of the biggest things that annoyed me in this book was the constant use of the phrase "That boy." Yes, I understand that is the title of the book but I don't think it needs to be used every time J.J. describes someone of the male species. Again, cue the eye roll.

Also, since this book follows Jayden as she grows up we often skip and gloss over years at a time. I really didn't like how this worked out because it usually just had J.J. recapping the last few months or years very quickly and brushing everything off. I didn't really like that because it stopped the flow of the story and really slowed down the plot. It made things choppy and the author often had to backtrack anyway to catch the reader up on all the time that passed. I don't think the time lapse was executed as well as it should have been.

The part with Danny, Philip and Jayden's parents in the hot tub. Gross. Ew. Stop.

I thought that Jayden's flirtatious personality she developed as she grew up felt forced. I mean when she was younger she was completely oblivious to everything and then the book fast-forwards a few years and she's a master of all the arts. Ok. It annoyed me that she took everything too far and just went "who cares" and made Phillip clean up her mess. It felt like her character was forced to become 'cool' so she was placed in situations that felt unnatural to me. I understand she was growing and changing but it didn't feel consistent. If that makes sense.

Now, what did I like? To be honest, sadly, not much. Phillip is what really made this book for me. I loved how he was always there for J.J. no matter what they were going through. Fighting or not e always went out of his way to make sure she was okay. I was almost ready to slap her for what she did at the end.

Sadly, a lot of this review is full of negative things. But I really couldn't find too much to say I liked about it and that pains me. I was so looking forward to enjoying this book and gobbling it up.

Overall, I didn't really enjoy this book. A lot of reviews I've seen though have been positive so if this is something that sounds like you might like give it a shot. I personally don't recommend it.

 Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*
*Image taken from Google.ca 

April Bookish Wrap-up!

Welcome to another wrap up! I'm really excited to be doing these posts now because I find it so fun to just look back on the month and see all the bookish things that happened! Also, this year is flying by so fast! It's already May so that means exams are coming up soon and I am not looking forward to that at all. Anyways, here we go!

Favourite New Releases: There weren't too many books that came out last month that I was interested, but my TBR pile is still continuously growing...

1. The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead. When this book was first announced I was so excited because it sounded so cool to me but now that it's out I've heard a lot of negative reviews and I'm worried. But I still really want to pick it up and give it a shot! (Also, this cover is gorgeous!)
2. The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this book and I can't wait to get my hands on it!
3. Dreamology by Lucy Keating. This book came out of nowhere and kind of surprised me. I hadn't heard too much about it but I saw a YouTube video about it and I was immediately hooked. (I almost bought it last month but I already bought too many other books)
4. Lady Renegades by Rachel Hawkins. This is the third book in the Rebel Belle series and I can't wait to see what happens. I loved the first book but the second one disappointed me a little so I'm excited to see what's in store for this one!

Favourite Blog Posts from Other Bloggers:
Sadly, I haven't had a lot of free time in April because I had so much going on with school but in May I hope to explore the bookish interwebs a bit more!

My Blog Post: Also because of my busyness in April, the only post I uploaded was my March bookish wrap-up. I rock.

My March Bookish Wrap-up

Book Haul: As many book lovers know, when you don't have a lot of time to read books, you tend to buy more to make up for it because that makes so much sense. I know I have a problem and I accept it. Oh, and it's official: I've run out of space on my shelves and I've resorted to stacking book up in piles on my desk.

Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking. This is the second book in the Kanin Chronicles series and I'm really liking it so far!

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. As soon as I read the synopsis for this book I had to get my hands on it. It's about the descendants of Holmes and Watson and I cry this is so amazing I can't wait to read it.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Everyone always talks about how amazing Sanderson is so I thought I'd give him a shot with this book because it was on sale. Gotta get those deals.

On the Fence by Kasie West. Kasie West is the queen of quick, fun, cute contemporary romances. I could read these books till the day I die. All the excitement for this.

What I Read: So I read 5 books this month, and one of them was for school. I'm pretty happy with that considering how much I had going on. I hope maybe I can read a little bit more this month to catch up with my reading goal.

Switched by Amanda Hocking. 3/5. After Queen of Shadows, I was left in a weird state so I didn't know what to read. I picked this up on a whim and I really enjoyed it. It was so easy to fly through and I love Hocking's writing. Definitely recommend if you feel a slump coming on.

Torn by Amanda Hocking. 3/5. I started marathoning this series because I became addicted and I didn't really feel in the mood for someone else. At this point in the series, Finn was kind of like Chaol to me and I wanted to punch him in the face. But it was a good sequel.

Ascend by Amanda Hocking. 4/5. Definitely my favourite book in the series. I loved how everything wrapped up and it did bring a few tears to my eyes! Loki is precious.

Frostfire by Amanda Hocking. 4/5. (As you can tell I binge read a lot of Amanda Hocking last month.) I really liked this book, especially because there were so many cameos from the Trylle series! But I also really like Bryn and her character. I can't wait to see where the story goes!

Lord of the Flies by William Hocking. 2.5/5. I had to read this for school and I wasn't too impressed. While it was a good and important overall story, the writing just didn't work for me. I found it to be very inconsistent with the pacing and it was so descriptive it just wasn't keeping my attention.

I don't really have any new authors to talk about again because I literally only read two. I have a problem and I need to branch out more.

Favourite Book Fanart:

I just had to pick this book because the Selection series comes to an end this month with the Crown and I can't handle all the emotions right now!

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Images taken from Google.ca*

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Published: HarperTeen, February 9th, 2016
Pages: 444
Source: Hardcover, purchased
Genre: Fantasy/Dystopian
Rating: 4/5

How I Felt: This book is a roller-coaster, to say the least. My thoughts are a little scrambled after reading this so I'll try to be coherent.

I definitely liked this book better than Red Queen, I thought it was a strong sequel. But I still had my issues with it.

I still don't like the writing too much, although I did feel it improved in this installment. I find so many repetitive phrases that just get on my nerves every so often.

I liked the addition of the new characters in this, and I loved all the action sequences. I felt like they were well written and I could picture them all clearly. I also loved how we got to travel around a lot in this book, it was so interesting to get a better look at Norta.

I also really liked getting to learn more about the people like Mare. It was so cool to see how diverse they all were and how much they could whip the Silvers into shape if they got together.

*sing-songs* I have a feeling there is something going on with Farley and I can't wait for the third book to see if it's true. *laughs maniacally*

I didn't really like Mare too much in this book. I felt like she was acting very vain and self absorbed most of the time thinking that this rebellion is all about her when so many other lives are at stake. So I appreciated it when Cameron was introduced and gave her a few reality checks. I understand it was to add to her character development and help her grow as a person, but she got a little annoying after saying the same thing for the whole book.

(*The next paragraph contains mild spoilers*)
Jon. I'm not going to say too much about him but at first he reminded me of the guy from Men in Black who could see the future and that made me laugh hysterically for a few minutes when I made that connection. Sadly I don't remember his name but in short he gives me life. Until the end of this book when I want to slap him silly.
(*Spoilers over.*)

I had a feeling it was going to end that way. I see it in practically every sequel in YA. I won't say what it is because I don't want to spoil anyone but ohmigosh -__-

Now I must mention this because it's something I am completely confused and undecided about and it freaks me out in a good way. There is so much allusion to romance in this book but it feels like every path and every guy leads to a dead end. I don't know who to trust, I don't know who I like or want to protect more. It's delightfully infuriating.

I really hope Mare fixes things with her family and Kilorn. I don't really know what to expect in the third book though, to be honest. I appreciate that going into the next book, I have no clue what to expect. With this one, it was like being thrown into a completely different world.

I will be continuing on with the series because I must say I'm intrigued. Even though tropes are layed on thick I still really enjoyed this one.

Cal and Kilorn must be protected at all costs.

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*
*Image taken from Google.ca