Beauty & The Books|Book Haul May 2015

Hey ya’ll! It’s been a while since I have done any "book related” posts, and I have really missed them! I really miss doing lifestyle related posts, so I am definitely going to start doing more of them. Today I’m going to share with you some books I have picked up recently. I will have each book linked, in case you want more information. I’ve also included link to their Goodreads pages, if you want to read reviews and ratings.  

Paper Towns by John Green

-Goodreads Page-

Paper Towns is about a boy named Quentin Jacobsen who has had a long time crush on a girl named Margo Spiegelman. They randomly become friends one night when she shows up at his house. They spend the entire night together and then everything changes the next day at school. From what I can gather, Margo disappears but has left clues for Quentin to find her. The movie adaptation comes out in theaters this summer, on July 24.

The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

-Goodreads Page-

The Isle of the Lost is a Disney adaptation about the Disney Villains and their children. The Villains are Maleficent, The Evil Queen from Snow White, Jafar, and Cruella Deville. The Villains and their families live on an island called Isle of the Lost and it is ruled by Maleficent. The Disney Villains were banished to the island and stripped of their powers 20 yrs ago, and are unable to leave due to an invisible fortress. There is key to help them possibly regain their powers and unlock the fortress somewhere hidden on the island that they must find. It seems to me that this is going to be a coming of age story about the children, and the lesson is that just because you come from an evil family, doesn’t mean you can’t choose to be good.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

-Goodreads Page-

Outlander was originally published in 1991 and there are 8 books in this series, with the ninth book in the works. It’s about a woman named Claire Randall who is a combat nurse in the year 1945. She has just come back from the war and has been reunited with her husband. They are on a vacation in the British Isles when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles, and is transported back in time to Scotland in the year 1743. This has been made into a TV Series on Starz network and I have not watched it. I have heard really amazing things about this series, and I’m excited to start it. I’ve heard is all things romantic, dramatic, fun, exciting, and adventurous.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress

-Goodreads Page-

These are all fairy tale retellings about Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel. The prequel to this series called The Fairest came out in January of this year, and the next book in the series comes out in November titled Winter, which is going to be featuring Snow White. So far I have read Cinder, but have yet to start the next book in the series, Scarlett. I believe that each book features the character(s)  from the previous book in the series. I really enjoyed Cinder, and have heard really awesome things about this series in general, so I am excited to continue reading it.

Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black 

-Goodreads Page-

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is about a girl name Tana who lives in a world where there are caged cities called Coldtowns that house vampires. There’s another thing, if you enter a Coldtown, you aren’t allowed to leave it. One morning after a party, Tana wakes up to find herself surrounded by dead bodies. She, her ex boyfriend who has been infected, and another boy whom she does not know, are the only three survivors. They have to find a way to save themselves, and the only way to do that is to entire a Coldtown.

xoxo,
Casey

Beauty and the Books: Book Haul

Hey ya'll!!

I've been running low on new reads lately so it was time to stock up again. I got a few stand-alone novels, along with some series books both new and continuing. I always gravitate towards books in a series versus stand-alone novels for some reason. I don't mean to do it, it just kind of happens. Some of these books I've wanted for a while, and some were recent discoveries. I went a little cray, and got more books than I probably should have at one time. There were so many that I wanted to read that I couldn't pick just a handful, #booknerdproblems. This is a pretty big book haul, well pretty big for me. I have nine books to show you today. Yeap you read right, I said nine. (Insert wide-eyed emoji here, P.S. Don't judge me!)

I have a few different ways that I choose the books that I want to read. I like to pop by different book sections when I'm out running errands or grocery shopping, just to see what's new and to get a peak inside. I also like to check out the Barnes and Noble website for new and upcoming releases. There's different suggestion links and categories that filter everything, making browsing really easy. Often times I end up checking out books based off of ones I see and hear about from BookTubers. Here are some of my favorites to watch in case you are interested: Katytastic, PeruseProject, Kassidy Voinche, BooksandQuills, PriceisWong, and PolandBananasBooks. Goodreads is also a really great site. Users rate books on a Star Scale from one to five and give their own personal reviews. It's a great way to see what books people are loving, or have loved in the past.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (NOOK Book)

4.51 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (NOOK Book)

4.43 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: Is Rose’s fate to kill the person she loves most? It’s springtime at St. Vladimir’s Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since Mason’s death, Rose hasn’t been feeling quite right. She has dark flashbacks in the middle of practice, can’t concentrate in class, and has terrifying dreams about Lissa. But Rose has an even bigger secret . . . .She’s in love with Dimitri. And this time, it’s way more than a crush. Then Strigoi target the academy in the deadliest attack in Moroi history, and Dimitri is taken. Rose must protect Lissa at all costs, but keeping her best friend safe could mean losing Dimitri forever….

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (NOOK Book)

4.1 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart. Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (NOOK Book)

4.14 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…. Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters. Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what–and who–is worth dying for…again. Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (NOOK Book)

4.17 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (NOOK Book)

3.84 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: From the world of Beautiful Creatures-a dangerous new tale of love and magic. Ridley Duchannes is nobody's heroine. She's a Dark Caster, a Siren. She can make you do things. Anything. You can't trust her, or yourself when she's around. And she'll be the first to tell you to stay away-especially if you're going to do something as stupid as fall in love with her. Lucky for Ridley, her wannabe rocker boyfriend, Wesley "Link" Lincoln, never listens to anyone. Link doesn't care if Rid's no good for him, and he takes her along when he leaves small-town Gatlin to follow his rock-star dream. He teams up with a ragtag group of Dark Casters, and when the band scores a gig at a hot Underground club, it looks like all of Link's dreams are about to come true. But New York City is a dangerous place for both Casters and Mortals, and soon Ridley realizes that Link's bandmates are keeping secrets. With bad-boy club owner Lennox Gates on her heels, Rid is determined to find out the truth. What she discovers is worse than she could have imagined: Link has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay. With their lives on the line, what's a Siren to do? Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthors of the Beautiful Creatures novels, are back to cast another magical spell. Their signature blend of mystery, suspense, and romance, with a healthy dose of wit and danger, will pull fans in and leave them begging for more.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (NOOK Book)

3.94 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman (NOOK Book)

3.99 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: A critically acclaimed novel that will change the way you look at life, love, and family. In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen ­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (NOOK Book)

3.98 Stars on Goodreads

Synopsis: Book one of the New York Times–bestselling All Souls trilogy—"a wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight” (People) Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night, and concludes with The Book of Life, coming from Viking in July 2014.

I've got a lot of reading to do, and plenty of material to work with! Let me know in the comments below if you've read any of these books and what you're thoughts were on them. 


xoxo,
Casey