Angela's Summer Favorites

I'm going to start doing something a little new and at the "end" of every season I'll be giving a little wrap up on some of my favorite things. The main reason it's a little different is because I'm not just going to be talking about books. De-stress yo chest, and don't worry I'll still talking about books and bookish items. I'll be listing off things like my top summer reads, movies, reviewer, and discussing some of the other things I got into this past season. These are my choices for the months of June, July, and August.

Top Five Summer Reads:
These are my favorite reading picks of the summer and the ones I gave the highest ratings on Goodreads and our blog. These will only include fresh reads for me and nothing that I happened to re-read. (in no order): 

1. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. A young Prince takes a new bride every night and then kills her the following morning. After Shazi's best friend meets the same fate she decides to seek revenge. For fans of Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir.
2.  Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren. Harlow and Finn hate each other. This probably explains why their Vegas marriage only lasted 12 hours. Even after separating these two constantly find themselves drawn back to one another. For fans of Colleen Hoover and Helena Hunting.
3.  Fractured Suns by Theresa Kay. With time running out Jax must find a way to save both the human race and the alien race she's come to know. For fans of Rick Yancy and Demitria Lunetta.
4.  The Devil's Intern by Donna Hosie. Mitchell Johnson has been living in Hell working as the Devil's intern since being hit by a Greyhouse bus. When he hears about a time traveling device he decides this might be his best chance of getting out of Hell. For fans of Cristin Terrill and Libba Bray.
5.  Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Layla has a lot going on in her life. She has to chose between the sexy prince of the under world Roth and long time best friend gargoyle warden Zayne; all while fighting demons and trying to keep up with school work. For fans of Amy Bartol and Victoria Scott.

If you haven't had a chance to pick any of these up, after this post run straight to your local bookstore and buy them all!  

Top Summer Movies:
We all know I see a lot of movies, and I thought choosing just one or two favorites would be hard. Turns out it wasn't My top movie of the summer are:

1. Me and Earl and The Dying Girl. Me Earl and the Dying Girl is about an unlikely friendship and how it can make the difference in a time of darkness. This movie had everyone in the theater laughing till their sides hurt and then crying their eyes out. This film could easily be the best book adaptation I'll see this year.
2. Dope. Dope is about how stereotypes and racism still effect us even in 2015. This movie smacks you with a huge message, and will leave you with your jaw dropped. The closing scene of this film gave me head to toe goosebumps.  Lindsey and I saw this movie on a whim and were both surprised by how much we liked it and walked out the theater satisfied. 

Even though these films are polar opposites they both have two things in common. First they both gave us a cast of amazing, fresh, and talented new comers. Second I think both these films were way under-hyped. Neither of them getting the spotlight they deserve.

Top Summer TV Shows: 
Okay, so not all of these came out this summer, but these just happened to be the shows I got really into. (in no order)

1.  Arrow. This would probably be my top pick as far as shows went. I didn't think I was going to like it, but was completely wrong!!! I'm obsessed! Even from episode one I was hooked. I spent many a night curled up in a blanket marathoning this guilty pleasure. The story line is crazy insane and with a full rosters of hotties Arrow is a must watch.
2. Game of Thrones Season 5. This might not have been my favorite season so far, but still packed a mighty punch... Oh and way to leave us hanging on everything and everyone! 
3. Switched at Birth. Yup, I got sucked into this show. It's so bad good. I constantly found myself wondering why I was watching it, yet couldn't turn away. 
4. How to Get Away with Murder. Even though I just finished watching season one (perfectly in time for the premiere of season two) I started watching it at the beginning of the summer. All I'm going to say about this amazing show is that Viola Davis is a total Badass.

Top Summer Book Reviewer:
This summer I stumbled upon a Youtube channel that has quickly become one of my favorites. This booktuber is quirky, funny, interesting, and it doesn't hurt that her choices in both clothes and makeup are so on point. *Drum roll please*... Ms Riley Marie.

This little firecracker of a booktuber does everything: hauls, reviews, book tags and more. All her videos leave me in stitches and it always brightens my mornings when I see she's posted a new video. Love seeing this girl share her awkward social book situations and completely relate to her "no book buying bans" that turn into massive book buying hauls. Girl I get it, book buying situations escalate quickly and who can say no to Bookoutlet's crazy amazing sales???!!! No one I want to know! Another reason she's become one of my favorites is because she's also not scared to talk New Adult and even sometimes smutty reads. Riley's love for books can be clearly seen in all her videos and reviews. 

If you love watching booktube videos as much as I do I would high recommend subscribing to her page. 

Top Summer Music: 

This was an easy easy pick... Halsey's Badlands album. I have been playing this on repeat all summer!  Gasoline, Hold Me Down, Colors, and Coming Down are my  jams. There's no doubt you've seen this artist popping up everywhere lately. Recently named on of Elle magazine's 2015 Women of music. This entire album is perfect for early morning runs or as light background music while reading.

Added bonus this cd is like ten dollars at target.
 

Fictional Book Boyfriends pt 8

The month of Freedom is here!!! And you know what that means... Suns out Guns out. Tank tops will be out in full force! God Bless living in a southern beach state am I right??? This also means that it's another month we get to talk about our favorite topic; fictional book boyfriends. Some also refer to these as dream-cast or as of most recently Iflist. We get to slap some mandsome faces to some of the fictional leading guys in the books we've been reading. To see reviews for these books all you have to do is their titles and to see our past post just click here. 

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh 

King takes a different bride every night and then kills her the following dawn.

Nicolas Simoes as Khalid

Swoon! What a lady killer!!!...  Wait? Too soon???

Velvet by Temple West 

Girl gets vampire bodyguard who thinks dating is their best cover story.

Nick Palladino as Adrian

Wouldn't mind a flash-back to 1999 and doing a Drive Me Crazy movie theme with this hottie.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
The smutty and oh so good version of Beauty and the Beast.

Drew Van-Acker as Tamlin

Feel free to perform whatever freaky earth replenishing ceremony you want on us.

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Guy suffering incurable disease gets sent to live in a home with others suffering.

Evan Peters as Lane 
*cough cough* suddenly feeling a little ill.

 Just Listen by Sarah Dessen 
Reformed truth obsessed bad-boy helps girl face old friends. 

Max Irons as Owen
 Seriously what girl doesn't like a bad boy...

Angela's June Wrap-Up

Broken Juliet- Leisa Rayven
Because of Low- Abbi Glines
While it Last- Abbi Glines 
After We Collided- Anna Todd
After We Fell- Anna Todd
After Ever Happy- Anna Todd
Velvet- Temple West
Stargazing at Noon- Amanda Torroni
Hunted- Abi Ketner and Missy Kalicicki 
The Martian- Andy Weir  
Ugly People Beautiful Hearts- Marlen Komar  
The Wrath and the Dawn-  Renee Ahdieh
A Song of Ice and Fire- George R.R. Martin

I'm actually really surprised by the number of books I managed to read in June. If you follow me on any social media then you know that I've spent most of June ridiculously sick. So, I spent a majority of my time trying to sleep and watching Criminal Minds marathons. Just didn't have the energy to do anything else even read... So yeah that's how you know I was really sick. The only good thing that came out of only reading a select few books this month was that it left very little room for suck. 

My June favorites were After Ever Happy, The Martian, and The Wrath and the Dawn. Still kind of freaks me out every time I say I like The After Series, and that After Ever Happy makes the top of any kind of list I have... but I don't care. Of all Anna Todd's books After Ever Happy was my favorite and I loved how it tied up and ended the series. The addictive qualities her books have overshadow anything negative I would have to say. The Martian was another book that had something so addictive about it. The writing style and main character were written to perfection. A science fiction book that could easily fall into so many other genres. So excited to see this one play out on the big screen. The Wrath and the Dawn is hands-down my top pick for June. Such an amazing re-telling and unique book that added something new to the ever growing Ya scene. It was an absolutely breathtaking read. I still can't get over the hook that really draws you in... A king marries a different girl every day then the following dawn kills her. Such a brilliant idea! This is a 2015 and summer must read.

 As far as picking my June fails, like I said above I really don't have any. There was only one book that I wish I would have gotten more out of, and that was Because of Low. I found the relationship between the two main characters a little unbelievable. That being said I still really enjoyed the book. I just felt it was a little rushed and could have played out a little different. Plus it was rather predictable. I honestly only read it so I could get more background story before reading While it Last, since it's becoming a movie next year.Good call on my part. That's basically it. Sorry I don't have more for you this month but hopefully I'll kick this extreme chest infection and we able to tackle everything I have planned in July.

xoxo

-angela

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each day only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when Shahrzad volunteers to marry the Caliph.

The Wrath and the Dawn is every recently amazing YA book thrown into one read. Red Queen meets An Ember in the Ashes meets A Court of Thorns and Roses. The main difference it has between those books is the amount of action. The Wrath definitely set aside action packed scenes for a slower more lyrical literature depth.

Sharhrzad (Shazi) is out to seek revenge for the murder of her best friend and decides too volunteer to be the next wife of the Caliph of Khorasan. The Caliph is known for being ruthless, heartless, and cruel. But the thing he is most known for is the fact that every day he takes a different wife and every following dawn he kills her. Shazi doesn’t care why the king does this she only cares about righting what has been wrong and insuring that this fate doesn’t come to another girl.  Since this is told from a 3rd person point of view us as reading know that there is clearly more to the story than meets the eye. As Shazi gets to know Khalid (The Caliph) she learns he is not what she thought he was. She beings to become conflicted between doing what she set out to do and listening to her heart. Things only get more complicated when Shazi pre suicide mission boyfriend, Tariq, sets out to get her back.


I'm usually am not the biggest fan of the 3rd person pov but in this case I found myself falling in love with it. That was not the only thing I fell for, the characters won me over. Shazi is our leading lady and the character I connected most with. Having to see her go back and forth on what she should do had me struggling along with her. She is a fierce lead and her silver tongued attitude is a forced to be reckoned with. Her take no crap ways and honesty will win you over. Khalid is our leading male and I can’t express enough how much I loved his character. He isn’t a man of many words, and the ones he uses he chooses wisely, time and time again had me swooning. Though I connected more with Shazi without a doubt Khalid was my favorite character. He has definitely made his way onto my list of fictional book boyfriends. I loved the mystery surrounding him, his intelligence, and his ability to read people. This is also the only negative feedback I have on the book. The romance, though amazing, I wanted more of it. I wanted more “screen time” with Shazi and Khalid. The moments we get with them are so perfect that it made me want this book to be longer. I think it says a lot if your only real complaint is that something was so good you wanted more of it. This is a very very minor issue in the grand scheme of things.  Both Shazi and Khalid are complex and well built characters. The fact that we are given so much back story and tells from their childhoods also gave these characters something that a lot of other books miss. Tariq is the only character I felt I didn’t really connect with or understand in this book. though I see his value and what he brings to the table I just think Khalid won me over and had it so I wasn't even glancing Tariq way.

“Love is a force unto itself, sayyidi. For love, people consider the unthinkable...and often achieve the impossible. I would not sneer at its power.”  

As I stated above The Wrath is a book that can be compare to others that have been released lately but it has something so different to it. Though most of it's action packed scenes are left towards till the end of the story, Renee's writing had it so I was still on the edge of my seat either way. She manages keeps a steady pace throughout the whole novel. Renee's writing is so beautiful and gripping. The brilliance behind how she survives through the night is what got me so hooked right away and every wonderful sentence after kept me there. This novel brought a whole new meaning to stories having power. Waiting so long to give us the true answer to the riddle yet giving us little bits and pieces really worked so well for this book. The action scenes in this book are perfectly placed along with their delivery.

The Wrath and the Dawn surpassed any expectation I had for this book. It brings something so new and diverse to this genre. The perfect start to a series. It’s a fresh retelling with and amazing band of characters, perfect amount of romance, and the perfect mystery surrounding it. Finding out this is the first book and that there will be a sequel has me beyond giddy! 

10/10 Stars
-Angela