Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts

Thursday, January 1, 2015

WAT UP 2015?!?!

We here at Southern Read are so excited to bring in the New Year... New year equals new books right!?!?! Not just that, there are going to be some pretty big events happening this year... Everything from page to premieres, to new releases, to book signings! We can barely contain our fangirlness.

MOVIES!
I think the thing we are most excited for is.... 50 Shades of Grey the movie..... HAHAHA JUST KIDDING (But Leah is actually secretly excited for it to come out on DVD so she can watch it... No judgement...)(Angela's judging lol)! But there are a lot of movies we are looking forward too this year and we have plans to see them all!
As of right now all these movies are expected to come out in 2015.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth is the second movie in the Divergent Trilogy. I think we all can agree that at first seeing the teaser trailer and little pictures here and there, we weren't too excited for this movie to come out... But after seeing the full length trailer we're beyond stoked too see it, even with the already clear
changes. Seriously though, after seeing that trailer, we were both so confused. We were both like "it hasn't been THAT long since we've read the books, I know we couldn't have forgotten that much!!" and a lot of saying "WHAT'S IN THE BOX".  Regardless if it stays true to the book or not, it looks totes BA. Plus Theo James' abs in 3D, how can we say no.

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner. After meeting James Dashner this past year at YALLFest and hearing him talk about how awesome The Scorch Trials will be (and how handsome Dylan O'brien really is in person... yes, we asked), we are SO STOKED! The Scorch Trials was definitely our favorite book out of the trilogy and it's going to be so intense if they go by the book. All I'm going to say is all those scenes with the lightening and the who NO NOSE SCENE. OMG. SO TERRIFYING.

Paper Towns by John Green. Angela read this a while back (around 2010 I think), and Leah hasn't read it at all. But! Angela picked up a copy for us to read/re-read! John Green is pretty much one of those YA authors who can do no wrong, so we are excited to see how the movie comes out. If you don't follow him on Instagram, you definitely need to because he posts a TON of stuff from the movie set.

Fallen by Lauren Kate. Leah recently read book one of this series and while it wasn't her favorite book, it was still a good read. Fallen angels has been a big theme in YA books for a while, but there aren't too many movies out there featuring them (well, minus The Mortal Instruments, but we all see how big of a box office hit that was... womp womp). It can either go really good or really bad, so fingers crossed for the latter. The cast is already set, and they look like good picks so we are excited!

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. Leah read this book a few months ago and it was well..... hopefully it will be a better movie than it was a book. Honestly, from seeing the trailers, the movie doesn't look like it is going to follow the movie at all, so this can probably one of those page to premieres that you can skip reading the book first. The guy that has been cast to play Wesley is hot hot hot, so he's reason enough to see this one.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. Dark Places is the second book that Gillian Flynn is having become a movie. Her first was Gone Girl and it was one of the best movies we saw this year. Chloe Grace Mortez is set to be the main star in this adaption... Is there anything this girl isn't in/going to be in. If you don't know she is also set to play Cassie in the 2016 film adaptation of The 5th Wave (which is the film Angela is the most excited about) and was the leading lady in the film If I Stay. We haven't read Dark Places yet (it is on our short TBR list), but we have read Gillian Flynn's other books and LOVED how dark and haunted they all are. If Dark Places is anything like that and the movie is anything like Gone Girl, get ready to get your socks knocked off.

OH JUST WAIT!!! DON'T THINK WE FORGOT!!!! The film we are probably most hyped on seeing in 2015 is....  MOCKINGJAY (Part Two) by Suzanne Collins, the fourth and final film in The Hunger Games Trilogy. After where they left part one we can't even explain how excited we are to finally see everything end. Bittersweet, but sure will be amazing. We have it set to take the whole day off to marathon the movies at our local theater. We can't wait to purchase some super sweet HG gear (in addition to what we already own) and geek out in the theater with Peeta bread sandwiches (get it??!) and snacks.

The other movies we are excited to see are...
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. (on our TBR)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. (Angela's read it and Douglas Booth swoon)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Leah got this for Xmas so its TBR).
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. (Angela's read it... thinking it's going to make a better movie than it did book; wasn't one of my favorites.)
Matched by Ally Condie. (Angela has read the series. I think if they just stick to book one that it will make for an interesting movie. However the Matched series is one of my least favorites.)

EVENTS! 
As far as bookish events we are definitely hoping for some big names to roll through Charleston this year. We have a locally owned book shop in our area (Blue Bike Books) that host most of the book signings in our area. Sadly they only list authors that are coming a little closer to time. So once we know, you'll know lol. If  my father doesn't end up working in Germany (Angela) than I'm going to try to head up to New York for BEA and possibly BookCon. Since they are the same week. We shall see though. Then of course we are doing YALLFest again this year!!!! 

It's biggest and best event we go to all year! It's the nations largest YA book festival. Authors come from all over for panels, signings, and meet and greets. We have coverage up from our time at the 2014 festival, both day 1 and day 2, so just click the links to read about our time there. The author line up for who will be attending probably won't be out until this summer, so stay tuned. We constantly troll the YALLFest website in hopes of new info popping up! Once the list does appear we will more than likely do a post on it.

We are also heading to Atlanta in October to go to the Walker Stalker Con! Angela is a big fan of the comics, and we are both HUGE fans of the TV show so this is a HUGE DEAL for us! Tickets and hotel
are booked, so now we only have to wait 300 something more days! So before you know it it'll be here! We'll get to meet the cast, get some swag signed, and go to some panels.
  
           NEW RELEASES! 
As y'all know though the number one thing our blog focuses on is books... And 2015 has some pretty big books coming out. We keep a running list in calendar of book release dates, so we will keep y'all posted when the big day for these comes up!  

Some of the books we are most looking forward to be released are The Heir by Kiera Cass, Invaded by Melissa Landers, Reborn by Jennifer Rush, Sea of Stars by Amy Bartol, Miss Mayheme by Rachel Hawkins, Unleashed by Sophie Jordan, The Death Code by Lindsay Cummings, Charmed by Michelle Krys, Hunted by Abi Ketner, Heart of Betrayl by Mary E. Pearson, The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. But the book we are MOST looking forward to is Every Last Breath by Jennifer Armentrout. This book is the grande finale for Layla and her love triangle with Zayne and our booboo Roth, so we are so stoked to see who she picks (ROTH!!!) in the last book! And we adored that Jla let her reads vote on who they wanted too see Layla end up with.
  
BOOK TRENDS!
As far as book trends, I (Leah) really hope the trend for series having different POV for each book ends. For example, in 2014 I read These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman. For the second book in the triology (and I assume the third will be this way as well), it has an entirely new cast of characters. I HATE THIS! I fall in love with characters in the first book and want to continue on with them through the whole series! Same goes for when I read Rush by Maya Banks. SO GOOD, but the other two books in the series are from the other two guys POV. HATE HATE HATE. I want more Gabe and Mia!! I also really hope that the time/dimension travel books stay popular. All Our Yesterdays and A Thousand Pieces of You were BIG hits for me, and I really hope to see more books like them! The dystopian theme seems to be fading away a bit, but I hope that it starts to pick back up with some new fresh ideas.

What I (Angela) am looking forward to as far as book trends go the only BIG thing I want to end is when authors change cover styles mid series. I like all my books in a series to match and when they switch them up UGH I get so annoyed. Also I'm hoping for some new and surprising things to be brought to the Ya genre. I've also really gotten into Na books this year and I can't wait to see what else they have in store for that as well. I love dystopian books and like Leah lately I haven't found anything too shocking or new brought in. I also would like more well written love triangles and just romance in general. I wouldn't mind seeing more books like Kiss of Deception were there is a lot of mystery to who is who. Also hoping for some really second books or final books in series. I guess the only other thing is that I'm hoping as far as the films coming out I pray even if they have changes from the books that they do the stories justice.

Resolutions

Angela- My bookish New Year resolution is to finish all of the books on my DNF/Broke up with list from 2014. I think there is around 11. To read more same author books. To do better about writing film adaption reviews right after we see the movies. To do more of my own photos for our blog. And to branch out more to other book bloggers and authors.

Leah- My 2015 bookish resolution is to branch out with the type of books that I read and be open minded with books that I normally wouldn't think I would like. I also want to work on chiseling away at my TBR list before adding new books. Like Angela, I want to do more of my own book photos for our blog. Lastly, I want to work on building up my fandom collections by adding more book swag to my collection.


If there are any movies we forgot please comment below and let us know! We would love to know and add it to our growing list. That goes for books coming out and book events going down as well! We would also love to hear about which movies and books you are looking forward to too.

<3 
-A&L

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Angelas 2014 ReadCap

This is my 2014 end of year Read-cap! I'm pretty sure I forgot a few and that I might have added 1 or 2 from mid-end of last year, it was really hard too keep up with everything. I swear I'll do better next year with keeping track of  everything.  

We have a full post of our top picks, along with the years biggest let downs. 
Click here to see them all. 

Overall 2014 was an amazing year for books, book events, and book to movie adaptions. I'm so excited to start 2015. January first we will have a post up about what's to come for SBSR in 2015. Thank you all so much for making our first year such a success. 


If I have done a review for the books all you'll have to do is click the title and it'll take you straight to the review.

Shatter Me- Tahereh Mafi
Unravel Me- Tahereh Mafi
Ignite Me- Tahereh Mafi
Unite Me- Tahereh Mafi
Half-Blood- Jennifer L Armentrout
Pure- Jennifer L. Armentrout

Deity-Jennifer L. Armentrout 
White Hot Kiss- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Stone Cold Touch- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Obsidian- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Onyx- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Opal- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Origin- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Opposition- Jennifer L. Armentrout

Don't Look Bank- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Wicked- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Wait for You- Jennifer L. Armentrout   

Legend- Marie Lu
Prodigy- Marie Lu
Champion- Marie Lu
The Young Elites- Marie Lu
Hex Hall- Rachel Hawkins
Demon Glass- Rachel Hawkins
Rebel Belle- Rachel Hawkins 
Days of Blood and Starlight- Laini Taylor 
Black City- Elizabeth Richards
Phoenix- Elizabeth Ricahrds
Wings- Elizabeth Ricahrds
Reboot- Amy Tintera
Rebel- Amy Tintera 
Taken- Erin Bowman
Frozen- Erin Bowman
The Hunt- Andrew Fukuda
The Prey- Andrew Fukuda
The Trap- Andrew Fukuda
The Retribution of Mara Dyer- Michelle Hodkins
The Evolution of Mara Dyer- Michelle Hodkins
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer- Michelle Hodkins 
If I Stay- Gayle Forman
Where She Went- Gayle Forman
Throne of Glass- Sarah J. Maas
Crown of Midnight- Sarah J. Maas
Heir of Fire- Sarah J. Maas
City of Ashes- Cassandra Clare
City of Glass- Cassandra Clare
City of Fallen Angels- Cassandra Clare
City of Lost Souls- Cassandra Clare
City of Heavenly Fire- Cassandra Clare
Nowhere- Jon Robinson
Anywhere- Jon Robinson
Altered- Jennifer Rush
Erased-Jennifer Rush
Hush Hush- Becca Fitzpatrick
Crescendo- Becca Fitzpatrick
Silence- Becca Fitzpatrick
Finale- Becca Fitzpatrick

The Scorch Trials- James Dashner
The Death Cure- Jmaes Dashner
Matched- Ally Condie
Crossed- Ally Condie
Reached- Ally Condie
The Raven Boys- Maggie Stiefvater
The Dream Thieves- Maggie Stiefvater
Blue Lily, Lily Blue- Maggie Stiefvater
The 5th Wave- Rick Yancey
Infinite Sea- Rick Yancey
Never Fade- Alex Bracken
In the Afterlight- Alex Bracken 
Enclave- Ann Aguirre
Cinder- Marissa Meyer
Poison Princess- Kresley Cole
A Thousand Pieces of You- Claudia Gray
The Selection- Kiera Cass
The Elites- Kiera Cass
The One- Kiera Cass 
Panic- Lauren Oliver
Delirium- Lauren Oliver
Pandemonium- Lauren Oliver
Requiem- Lauren Oilver
Before I Fall- Lauren Oilver 

In the End- Demitria Lunetta
In the After- Demitria Lunetta 
Rush-Eve Silver
Push- Eve Silver
The Winner’s Curse- Marie Rutkoski
The Winner’s Crime- Marie Rutkoski 
Siege and Storm- Leigh Bardugo
Ruin and Rising- Leigh Bardugo
Shadow and Bone- Leigh Bardugo 
The Lover's Dictionary- David Levithan
Every Day- David Levithan
Dust Lands- Moria Young
Rebel Heart- Moira Young
Rising Star- Moira Young
Filthy 1-Megan D. Martin
Filthy 2-Megan D. Martin
Filthy 3- Megan D. Martin
Filthy 4- Megan D. Martin
Pawn- Aimee Carter
Captive-Aimee Carter  


The Chaos of Stars- Kiersten White
Beautiful Bastard- Christina Lauren
Under Different Stars- Amy Bartol
Fire in the Woods- Jennifer M. Eaton
The 100- Morgan Kass
Wallbanger- Alice Clayton
Unteachable- Leah Raeder
The Ring and the Crown- Melissa de la Cruz
Mystic City- Theo Lawrence
The Program- Suzanne Young
These Broken Stars- Amie Kaufman &  Megan Spooner
Beg- C.D Reiss
The Black Mage- Rachel E. Carter
The Jewel- Amy Ewing
Born at Midnight- C.C Hunter
NIL- Lynne Matson
All Our Yesterdays- Cristin Terrill
Taboo Unchained- C.M. Stunich 
The Bodies We Wear- Jeyn Roberts 
Take Me Tomorrow- Shannon A. Thompson
So it Goes- Grace Elizabeth Collins 
Moon Tortured- McKenzie Hunter
Falls the Shadow- Stefanie Gaither
Unremembered- Jessica Brody
The Kiss of Deception- Mary E. Pearson
Gravity- Melissa West
Forbidden- Tabitha Suzuma
The Beginning of Everything- Robyn Schneider
Snow Like Ashes- Sara Raasch
Say Her Name- James Dawson
The Girl in Between- Laekan Zea Kemp
Midnight Thief- Livia Blackburne
Vault of Dreamers- Caragh M. O’Brien
Forsaken- Lisa Stasse
Rot and Ruin- Jonathan Mayberry
Unwind- Neal Shusterman
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea- April G. Tucholke

Under the Never Sky- Veronica Rossi
The Onion Girl- Charles de Lint
Chasers of Light- Tyler Gregson Knott
Will Grayson, Will Grayson- John Green
Paper Towns- John Green
Vampire Academy- Richelle Mead
Alienated- Melissa Landers
The String Quartet- Dan Hupalo
Branded- Abi Ketner
Fire & Flood- Victoria Scott
Labor Day- Joyce Maynard
Winter's Tale- Mark Helprin
The Future of Us- Jay Asher
This is Where I Leave You- Jonatha Tropper
Not a Drop to Drink- Mindy McGinnis
The Murder Complex- Lindsay Cummings
The Taking- Kimberly Derting
We Were Liars- E. Lochart
The Spectacular Now- Tim Tharp



The Book of Ivy- Amy Engel
Unbroken- Laura Hillenbrand
Uninvited- Sophie Jordan
Ugly Love- Colleen Hoover
Maybe Someday- Colleen Hoover 
Everneath- Brodie Ashton
The Truth About Alice- Jennifer Mathieu
Rush- Maya Banks
Fever- Maya Banks 
Burn- Maya Banks 
Keep Me Safe- Maya Banks
Outlander- Diana Gabald
Pushing the Limits- Katie McGarry
Love, Rosie-
Josin L. McQuein
Raw- Belle Aurora 
Love Letters to the Dead- Ava Dellaira




Yup, if you weren't counting, and I doubt you were that was 174 books. 
174 books in one year is insane!!!! In 2015 I'm going to aim to pass that mark... I can not wait to kick off my reading... Just need to figure out what book should be honored with the number one spot. mmmmm choices choices.

My most read author this year was (surprise lol) Jennifer L. Armentrout totaling out with 13. Followed by Cassandra Clare and then Lauren Oliver both with 5. 

My most viewed review was Take Me Tomorrow by Shannon A. Thompson. This book was gifted to me from her. She was so sweet to work with so I'm so glad she got a lot of coverage from it. My next most reviewed posts were both tied in view numbers. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma and the other one was kind of a surprise to me and that was Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater.


My Favorite Series that ended this year were The Mara Dyer Trilogy Series, The Lux Series, The Mortal Instruments Series, The Selection Trilogy, and The Shatter Me Trilogy. My favorite starts to series (only one book currently out) were Wicked and Under Different Stars. My favorite ongoing series were The Throne of Glass Series and The 5th Wave Series. Favorite Duology was the Reboot Duo. And Favorite Stand-Alones were Unteachable, Ugly Love, Maybe Someday, Raw, and Forbidden. 

I was going to just pick my top four favorites but clearly that didn't work out too well. Anyways...

Thanks again for making this year one of the best. Fingers-crossed that 2015 is even better! Thank you to everyone that has followed us and all the authors who were so kind to trust their reviews in our hands...

But most of all I would like the thank my Co-Blo (I know you hate that word), my partner in crime, the only person who understand my fangirl, and twin Leah for everything she does! Without her this blog wouldn't be possible because we all know I have no computer skills! 
I can't wait to see what the New Year bring for us! 

  I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

Love
-Angela

Monday, December 29, 2014

Angela's December Readcaps

December is coming to an end, and I know that we are posting our December Reads earlier than normal but we have a few things that we will be posting in the next couple of days that will really round out our year. As far as December reading went well... IT WAS PRETTY AWESOME! Since it was also this little holiday that you might have also heard of called Christmas I got a few book things from that I will be posting as well! 
This December has been one of the best!

Below are the books I read in December, all which were hard to get too between vacations, holidays, and work. Either way everything I read was so good, barely any fails (sadly when I typed that I did the whoop whoop sound while raising the roof.)  Also below I'm gonna put my top and not so hot choices and some of my Christmas presents. So lets go! (and now I snapped and did gun fingers... Wow I need to stop.)

The Truth About Alice- Jennifer Mathieu

Rush- Maya Banks
Fever- Maya Banks
Burn- Maya Banks 
Captive- Aimee Carter
Outlander- Diana Gabaldon
The Young Elites- Marie Lu
Filthy 1-4- Megan D. Martin
Uninvited- Sophie Jordan
Everneath- Ashton Brodie (broke up with)
Ugly Love- Colleen Hoover
The Book of Ivy- Amy Engel
Don't Look Bank- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Pushing the Limits- Katie McGarry
Wicked- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Love, Rosie-
Josin L. McQuein (broke up with)
Wait for You- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Unite Me- Tahereh Mafi
Raw- Belle Aurora
Maybe Someday- Colleen Hoover 
Paper Towns- John Green (re-read)
Love Letters to the Dead-
Keep Me Safe- Maya Banks


Now for the best and worst. Feeling jazzy so I'm gonna mix it up and I'm gonna start with my biggest let-downs. Yes I did drop two books this month, Arclight (which I plan to try and revisit later) and Everneath. But I'm not counting those in my choice since they weren't completed. To me the biggest let-downs were... 
  • Captive by Aimee Carter. It's the second in the Blackcoat Rebellion Series/Pawn 2. The first book Pawn was SO amazing one of the best I had read in a long time. I waited so long to get my hands on book two that I was really let down by how much this book didn't bring it. I have the review posted if you wanna see fully why.
  • Filthy1-4 by Megan D. Martin. This is probably the worst book(s) I've ever read. They were disgusting and so aggravating. My review for them are in the links above as well. Can't express how much I hated these books. 
And now to the good stuff... My top pick is... Well actually there are four!!! And yeah I'm refusing to pick just one! They were all just that good. Each one of these I gave 10/10 stars too. Review are up for all of these and the link are in their titles in the list above.

  • Raw by Belle Aurora is my first pick. Girl falls in love with her stalker and their relationship only get crazier from there. This book was shocking moment after shocking moment. The ending alone had me freaking out.
  • The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu. This book in my opinion is the closet depiction of how high-school is. The book is told from several POVs all leading up the the final one which is Alice's. This book couldn't have been better. 
  • Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover. An amazing new spin on a relationship between two musicians completely blew me away. With surprises you wont see coming this book not only is a top pick for me for December but one of my top picks this year.
  • Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover. A nurse and Pilot have a rocky relationship built around secrets. This book whoosh... This book was just perfect! One of my favorite stand-alones this year. Colleen Hoover is just simply amazing and never fails to not leave me in tears. If I had to pick just one to be my top pick this would be the one.
To wrap this all up I'll leave you with some of the book-ish things I got for Christmas. I got a lot, A LOT of Barnes and Nobles gift cards, and some of the book I read this month I used the cards to get. I also received lots of cash... Which just meant more books/books to come. I also got a Rune car sticker from Leah but it's also not featured because I need to wash my car before I put it on. I'm really not big on celebrations or holidays so people getting me these gifts was really above and beyond. Everything was so perfectly chosen for me. 

Since I really don't love holidays my husband always lets me open my gifts early... by lets me I mean I always sucker him into giving them to me early... and by early I do mean early like..... November and the start of December. Yup I'm the worst lol. Anyways one of the gift he gave me was a gift cards so I used it to purchase the UK cover editions of The Throne of Glass Series and The Hunger Games Trilogy. For some of you who might not know, I LOVE and collect UK covers for book series. These two series are my favorites so far. The white covers of TOG are so perfect. They stand out from other editions of books. Speaking of standing out The Hunger Games Rebel UK editions are amazing. This picture doesn't do it justice they are so bright. The back and spines of the books have two different and important quotes from that book on it. Loved being able to add these to my growing collection. 

Some of the other things I got were... A signed copy of The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings. Leah got me this book and I was so surprised. Since Lindsay hasn't been able to tour in our area we haven't gotten a chance to meet and have her sign them before so her ordering this for me was amazing. Then my boss got me, probably my favorite gift, a signed and personalize Top Fit Men 2015 Calendar... You're probably wondering why This is in here with all my book stuff, well it's because the cover/main model in it is Nick Bateman. If you follow me on anything than you probably already know who he is, but for those of you who don't he is going to be playing Miles Archer in the movie adaptation of Ugly Love. My sister gave me these amazing Theo James earrings, which I will more than likely turn into necklaces for Leah and I. Then my husband got me a new and HUGE book shelf since my other ones were double stacked some even triple stacked with books. Leah and I will probably do a bookshelf tour sometime in January because people are always asking about them. Plus we just reorganized them this weekend SO be on the look out.


We will be posting our Awards this week along the full list of what we've read this year. We will also have a post about what we have coming up in 2015 dropping on January first.