Angela's November Wrap-Up

Paper Hearts- Claire Contreras

The Fall Up- Ally Martinez
Going Bovine- Libba Bray

Suicide Squad Vol. 2- Adam Glass

Unravel- Calia Read

November 9- Colleen Hoover

How I Live Now- Meg Rosoff

Revival Vol. 1- Tim Seeley

Day 21 (The Hundred 2)- Kass Morgan

Bared to You (Crossfire 1)-- Sylvia Day

The Deal- Elle Kennedy

Tell Me Three Things- Julia Buxbaum

Preacher Book 1- Garth Ennis

Finding Cinderella (Hopeless 2.5)- Colleen Hoover

Can we please talk about how insanely slack I've been these last two months??! I've seriously been dragging my feet lately. I can't really explain why either. Might just be because I've surpassed my reading goal and figured I'd take it a little slower in October and November. Might be because I fell into a deep Netflix spiral... Who really knows. My November numbers might reflect alright, but trust me the further it got into the month the harder I had too push myself to pick something up. However, a lot of the things I picked up this month weren't so bad.

My favorites were: Paper Hearts, The Fall Up, November 9, The Deal, Tell Me Three Things, and Finding Cinderella. Huh... Maybe my reading month wasn't as rough as I thought. Can't remember the last time I had a list with this many favorites on it. Paper Hearts first few chapters were released early on, and when I read it I knew right away this would end up on a favorites list. A sweet cute read that had the perfect little news clippings in it. The Fall Up was a book I was really worried about reading. When I saw it's stunning cover I was instantly drawn to it, but worried that the inside wouldn't be as good as the outside. Completely wrong, really enjoyed it. November 9, is the first Colleen Hoover book I'm going to talk about. It was her new release with massive hype surrounding it. Other books that have tried to pull off this same idea haven't done what this did. I wasn't at all let down. The Deal and Tell Me Three Things were my biggest surprise reads of the month. First The Deal has one of the worst covers I've ever seen, but oh my God was it hilarious. Tell Me Three Things was an ARC I received and is one of the only contemporary books I've ever enjoyed. Lastly is Finding Cinderella. Yes, the second Colleen Hoover book on this list. Even though I still haven't read Losing Hope (which I'm dying to read now) I still loved this novella. Picked it up because I was in a slump and because it is currently free on kindle.

My least favorites were: Going Bovine, Unravel, and Preacher. Going Bovine might have one of the funniest male protagonist I've read in the longest, and a concept like no other, but still somehow ended up being too much. I will say that I didn't hate it, I just wasn't in love, and something ultimately didn't stick with me. I was hoping for a book that would forever stick out in my mind, and this just didn't happen. Unravel was a book I ended up DNFing. It seemed like it was going to be a mind blowing read, and it is something I plan on picking up at a later date, but at this time it just wasn't doing it for me. Lastly Preacher. You have probably seen this popping up a lot lately because it is AMC's new comic book TV show. The show looks like it will be bitchin, but the comic was just something I couldn't get into. I think that if I give it more time and volumes that I might end up liking it but I'm not in any kind of rush to get to it.

14 books down in November and so many left to cram in before the end of the year. So goodbye November and hello December. I'm doing December way different than I have in the past. First off I'm going "offline". Logging off my social media accounts (kind of). I'll be logging off all my personal accounts and just focusing on reading and blogging. I'm logging into out bookstagram and am going to be doing a daily or every other day update of what I'm reading. I usually log into our book account once a week, update, comment back, and then log back out. In December it'll be something I focus on more and I'll be staying on it the entire month. I already have my entire Tbr planned for December. I'll be posting my list the first week of December so keep an eye out. I'm going to try and knock out some series I've been putting off, getting a good pipeline of reviews written, and then the last week of December I'm going to be doing nothing but re-reading my favorite books so I end my year on the best notes possible.
See y'all then.

-Angela

Angela's January Read-Cap

Holy doughnut holes where did the month go?!! Is January seriously over??? And did I seriously read 25 books? Rhetorical question or not, the answers are both yes. I can't really put a finger on if this month was a good month for reading or not. The highs were high and the lows were low. I did get a lot of simple reading done... aka I read more novellas than normal. Managed to finish some series I didn't get to last year, and started some new ones I was really excited about. Below are all the books managed to slam into this wickedly quick month. (Click the titles to go to the reviews)

Inexcusable- Chris Lynch
Hooked on the Game- C.M Owens
The Conspiracy of Us- Maggie Hall
Elixir- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
Apollyon- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Sentinel- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Stay With Me- Jennifer L. Armentrout
Bound by Duty- Stormy Smith
The Invitation- Roxy Sloane
Broken Skies- Theresa Kay
Hardwired- Meredith Wild
Red Rising- Pierce Brown
Golden Son- Pierce Brown
Losing It- Cora Carmack
Blackbird- Anna Carey (broke up with)
Reborn- Jennifer Rush
Flawed- Kate Avelynn
Never Never- Collen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
Slammed- Colleen Hoover 
Ignite- Lily Paradis
Dark Places- Gillian Flynn
The Duff- Kody Keplinger
An Abundance of Katherine's- John Green
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- Ransom Riggs
Collide- Ella Adams

Guess now that I'm looking over my list, January was a really good reading month. As far as my top picks go, I have quite a few. Broken Skies, Red Rising, Golden Son, Never Never, and Slammed  are without a doubt my favorites. Broken Skies is the start to a new series about my favorite subject... YES ALIENS!!!! Then there's the Red Rising Series which includes Golden Son, which if you follow me on any social media you know I'm obsessed with. And finally to wrap up my favorites is Slammed and Never Never. Fisher is a new author to me but this book wont be the last of hers I'll read, and I'm pretty sure you can't say the name Colleen Hoover and NOT have someone say "omg I love her". All five of these books were books I ranked five stars on goodreads and ten stars on our blog.

My favorite surprise scandy read was definitely Hooked on the Game. Yup the name is awful, the book was cheese, but dang it if I didn't love it anyways. So good bad!

But on too the books that let me down... because sadly there were more than I would like in this month. The Invitation is the book that I believe I rated the lowest, giving it a one star on goodreads. It was just so pointless! It was a novella that also served at a prequel... hated it. Next was BlackBird which I failed to finish. I just couldn't get behind the leading lady, or the story. Stay With Me was just a WTF in itself. I think my biggest let down was The Conspiracy of Us. I was SO excited when I saw and heard about this book. It seemed to have everything I was looking for in a YA novel, but ended up having nothing I wanted. It had such hype and didn't live up to the high reviews on goodreads.

Well there you have it... Another month, another list.
See ya in February!
-Angela


Don't forget if you'd like to purchase any of these books use out BookDepo list on our home page.

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- Cecelia Ahern  
Arclight- 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

Angela's November Reads

Angela's November Reads: 
Hey ya'll! Can you believe it's already December?! Where did the year go? It's insane how fast this year has come and gone. Sorry Leah and I haven't been on for a few days. We've both been so busy with work, family in town, and we both had a few days off for Thanksgiving...That didn't however stop us from doing a ton of reading. 

We will be playing catch up this up coming week and will be posting a lot of reviews for the books we read in November. I read 20 books this month... THAT IS INSANE! Leah and I did a book swap while we waited to do our giant December book hauls. This gave me so many new and amazing things to read. Below is the list of everything I got my hands on and read in November. If there is already a review up for it you'll be able to click the titles and go straight to the reviews. If there isn't a review for them there will be soon!

A Thousand Pieces of You: Claudia Gray

Pure (Covenant 2): Jennifer L. Armentrout
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
The Retribution of Mara Dyer: Michelle Hodkins
Unteachable: Leah Raeder
The Ring and the Crown: Melissa de la Cruz (broke up with)
Mystic City: Theo Lawrence
The Program: Suzanne Young
Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven cycle 3): Maggie Stiefvater
The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle 2):  Maggie Stiefvater
In the Afterlight (Darkest Minds 3): Alex Bracken
These Broken Stars: Amie Kaufman &  Megan Spooner 
Beg: C.D Reiss
The Black Mage: Rachel E. Carter
The Jewel: Amy Ewing

As far as the best books I read this month hands down they have to be Under Different Stars by Amy Bartol, Unteachable by Leah Raeder, The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkins, and The Program by Suzanne Young. All four of those books have reviews on our blog and links are above. These four books have stolen my heart. Each was so different from the last and really made my November reading amazing. Of all four though Under Different Stars would be my top pick. It is the start of a new series (The Kricket Series) and I believe book two comes out in March so if you haven't had a chance to pick it up there's still time. And if you haven't read my review on it there's still time for that too! It's spoil free and amazing (not to toot my own horn lol).

When it came to books that disappointed me this month some of them were Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater, The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White, Beg by C.D Reiss and The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz. I know that I'm in the minority when it comes to Blue Lily, Lily Blue and I'm okay with that, and TR&TC is the only book I had to break up with this month. It had to many POVs and randomness to it I found it hard to connect too. BUT the biggest let down was Mystic City by Theo Lawrence I was so excited to read it. Everything from it's cover too it's description looked amazing. Sadly it wasn't. I already have a review up for it on the blog and the link is above like the others.

So yeah I guess you could say that November was a little heavier on the blah reads side, but the books that I loved this month really made it become one of my favorite months this year.
This week or next I will be posting my reviews for The Jewel, The Black Mage, Pure, and Beg. I can't wait to start my end of the year reading and wrap up!

Angela's October Reads

Angela's October Reads:

So October's reads were either hit or miss... Good news though they were (for me) almost all hits! I'm
going to do a review on my top pick then have a list of what I read this month following it. If it's been reviewed on our blog you'll be able to click the links and go straight to the review! If the link isn't below you can go to either of our goodreads and see the reviews there.

I really had more than one top pick this month. Stone Cold Touch, All Our Yesterdays, and Forbidden were all among my top picks for not only this month but all year. As far as misses go Nil, Unremembered, and Enclave all made that list. My top choice however is Taboo Unchained by C.M. Stunich. I figured since we've already done reviews on the other ones that now would be a good time to do one for Taboo.

I was recommended this book by a fellow goodreads friend, and I choose to go through and read it because it seemed like a book that would be 1) unlike anything I normally read and 2) completely out of my comfort zone.

This story is a lovely coming of age tale where two young teens fall in love and try to save the world from the evil government... JUST KIDDING! Taboo Unchained  is a 100,000 word stand-alone dark romance. It's recommended for Ages 18+. (There is a disclaimer at the front of the book for pete's sake and that right there is how you know I was going to be out of my zone...)  
 
Hold onto your panties, ladies. Lucas Carter is here to show you the dark side of the sheets.It is going to be so hard to tell you much about this book without really giving anything away. This book is a dirrrrrty dirty version of Dexter... Taboo was and wasn't what I expected it to be. I mean come on we all knew this book was going to be steamy, what I didn't know was that it would be was funny, page turning, and kind of romantic. This story even has a love triangle (NO ITS NOT WHAT YOU THINK ITS ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD). The things that would drive me insane in a book won me over in this one. Lucas refers to himself in the third person which was so annoying at first but as the book went on it both died down and was revealed to be a necessity to really show how dramatic his character was. He is also making a reference to "the beast inside him" or his "darkness" (which is what makes this so much like Dexter that and some people get killed/murdered). I will warn you this boy has a boner 99.9% of this book... It's almost to the point where he should probably see a doctor.
 
Oh and when I mentioned a love triangle I should have gone further into it and really said its more like a love pentagon with no real "love"... Yeah that made some and no sense. Mainly however the "triangle" is just between Mister Carter and two other ladies (I don't want to reveal their names). The two girls however are complete night and day which I loved. That and that neither of them were petty B's. The sex was all sorts of hotness and actually takes up a lot of the plot. However, this is one story where I actually feel like sex is necessary... Yeah never thought that sentence would EVER come out my mouth. Lucas Carter is everything you love to hate in a man and OH SO MUCH MORE!!!! The first thing he say, the first line in the whole book is "My name is Lucas Carter, and I'm a fucking God." ... He is so so so so so hot but trust me when I say you wont want to love him but you wont be able not too. 

Overall this is the best and most F-d up love story ever and will more than likely be you 2014 guilty pleasure. I gave this book 10/10 not a whore stars! And yes I was blushing the whole time I wrote this review.

-Stone Cold Touch: Jennifer L Armentrout

-Half-Blood: Jennifer L Armentrout
-Born at Midnight: C.C Hunter
-The Raven Boys: Maggie Stiefvater
-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 
-Push: Eve Silver 
-Moon Tortured: McKenzie Hunter
-Falls the Shadow: Stefanie Gaither (broke up with)
-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
-Enclave: Ann Aguirre 
-Say Her Name: James Dawson
-The Girl in Between Laekan Zea Kemp


(I feel like I'm missing something but can't seem to figure out  what... OH WELL)