BOOKCON!!

It is the eve of BookCon! We have FINALLY MADE IT! Y'all can't even begin to know how excited we are, since this is our first book convention that we are traveling for (YALLFest is held in our town!!). We really want to see if any of our readers are going, so if you are, please leave us a comment and we will try to meet up with you while we are there!



We have an entire folder dedicated to BC planning. We have broken down the times to get to, from, stand in line, walking, and pretty much anything else you can think of, so we actually feel pretty prepared. Our one and only goal is TO MEET COLLEEN HOOVER. If literally nothing else happens this weekend, it will be considered a win if we are able to meet her. Below is our schedule that we're going to follow. We went back and forth a LOT on which authors were absolute musts to meet, but we finally got it narrowed down to the must-sees. We are planning on hitting up all the booths and vendors we can, so we tried not to overschedule ourselves. Fingers crossed that everything works the way we hope!!



SATURDAY: Doors Open @ 10AM 10AM- J.D. Netto signing @ Booth #3079 12:30PM- CoHo signing @ Autographing Table 4 1PM- Jennifer Eaton signing @ Booth #2579 2PM- Sabaa Tahir and Aisha Saaed signing @ Autographing Table 4 3PM- Abi & Missy signing @ Booth #2579 6pm- Paper Towns panel @ Special Events Hall



SUNDAY: Doors Open @ 10AM 11AM- Sarah J. Maas signing @ Autographing Table 6 1PM- HONY poster signing @ Booth #3056 4PM- David Levithan signing @ Booth #3119



Angela and her hubby are flying to NYC this morning while I am flying in tonight to meet them. Shout out to our super awesome host, Ben, for letting us couch surf at his house because he lives literally blocks away from the convention center. BookCon is our sole purpose for the weekend, but we may hit up a show Saturday night (if we aren't dead on our feet). We fly back to Charleston late late Sunday night, and hopefully we are under the weight limit for our baggage with all the books we anticipate buying. Y'all don't even want to know the amount of cash we have each budgeted and have been saving for MONTHS for buying books in NYC. It's pretty embarrassing.



Like I said, if you are in NYC and are going to BookCon, leave us a comment or send us a message on Instagram so we can meet up! We are hoping to get lots of sweet swag for some upcoming giveaways, so watch out for those posts next month! Also, if you aren't following us on Instagram, you really need to check it out because we will be BLOWING UP with pictures this weekend! Our bookstagram is @southernbredbooks and our personal accounts are @leahlo89 @pizzashrapnel .



xoxoxo -Leah

Angela's May Wrap-Up

Angelfall- Susan Ee
World After- Susan Ee
End of Days- Susan Ee 
3:AM Kisses- Addison Moore
Sweet Submission- Roxy Sloane
Silence- Natasha Preston
Sweet Filthy Boy- Christina Lauren 
Clockwork Angel- Cassandra Clare
Anomaly-Tonya Kuper
A Court of Thorns and Roses- Sara J. Maas
The Heir- Kiera Cass
An Ember in the Ashes- Sabaa Tahir
Fangirl- Rainbow Rowell
Never Never pt 2- Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher 
After- Anna Todd
Ugly People Beautiful Hearts- Marlen Komar
Black Iris- Leah Reader

I know I'm posting this early, but it's only because Leah and I will be in New York the rest of this month for BookCon... And were only kind of freaking out about it... OK WE ARE REALLY FREAKING OUT ABOUT IT!!!! So excited!! Anyways, I didn't plan on reading very much this month but somehow managed to knock out 17 books. This put me at 102 out of my 185 goal this year... Which is freaking insane!

As far as May went, well I think it went alright. My favorites for May are: Angelfall, Sweet Filthy Boy, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Never Never pt 2. I know Angelfall is a little older series wise, but I was waiting for all three books to be released so I could marathon the whole series, and marathon I did. I freaking loved this series. The whole concept of Angels coming down to earth and being villains was amazing.  If you know me then you know this next one was no surprise; Christina Lauren's Sweet Filthy Boy. Those two have definitely become two of my favorite writers. SFB is my favorite book of theirs to date and kind of sad I didn't read it sooner. How could this list be complete without a Sara J Maas book?? It couldn't, ACOTR was a new release this month and I loved it. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but don't let that fool you, it is stunning. And last we have Never Never pt 2. Short stories aren't really my thing, but this series of novellas has me hooked! I need answers like yesterday. Those were without a doubt my favorites in May. I was surprised by two books, Ember in the Ashes and After. I thought for sure Ember would have been in my favorites, and yes I liked it a lot but then again it didn't blow we out the water like I hoped. After was a book I thought I was going to hate then ended up getting super hooked to.

When it comes to the books I thought were the biggest let downs, well I only have 3. Black Iris, The Heir, and 3AM Kisses. These three are the epitome of a book letdowns. I waited so long to get my hands on Black Iris, and was floored when it turned out to be a cluster f of badness. Leah Reader's Unteachable was one of my favorite books last year, so I was hoping for the same with Black Iris. 3AM Kisses, well lets just say it's one of the lamest things I've ever come in contact with. Spent most of my time trying to hold back my metaphorical vomit while reading it. The Heir, was another one of those books that I was really looking forward too, then got a hold of it and found myself asking "what was the point in this book?". Was so excited to fall back into the world of the selection and was highly disappointed.

That's all for now. See some of you in BookCon and the rest in June. 

-Angela

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

If you follow pretty much anything regarding YA books, you have heard about the release of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. It's definitely one of the biggest book releases this year and has already been opted for a movie deal. Whenever a book has that much hype around it before it even releases, I get super skeptical. I don't want to get my hopes up and then be disappointed. I can honestly say that all the hype surrounding Ember is absolutely true.

The world building in Ember is amazing and is one of the things that makes this book so special. You have so many different types of people that live in this alternate world, though only three are really talked about. The first ~100 pages or so is a bit slow because Tahir is setting the scene and really makes sure you have a clear vision of the world and the people. I was absolutely lost in the fantasy and couldn't get enough. I love the alternating POVs, I loved the action, I love the betrayals, I love the secrets... I just love all of it. I especially love that I didn't know where the story was going to go at any point. There was so many different paths it could have taken, so I was constantly guessing and then second guessing myself.

I went back and forth pretty much this entire book on which POV I liked more. Elias gave a lot of action and adventure, whereas Laia gave a more emotional approach to the story. The way the story is told really paints a full picture of the world that Tahir built. It was easy to develop an emotional connection to each character during their POV, and it was also easy to see the hate and intolerance that each character has for the other. Laia grew up in fear of The Masks, and the more that Elias comes around her the more uneasy she feels. She doesn't know what Elias could possible want from her other than to rape or hurt her. Elias has never viewed a slave as he has Laia, which is probably because she is the first slave that he has really paid attention to. Now that he noticed her and has become invested in her, he can't just turn his head when things start happening.

One thing I really loved about this book is that their is no clear romance. From the beginning, you kind of assume that at some point Elias and Laia are going to get together seeing as they are the two main characters. However, Laia and Elias each have someone else that they have feelings for, so it complicates their situations even more. The story doesn't focus on the romances, though it does play big parts in the decision making process of each person. I know some people felt like Ember lacked romance, but I think the little bit that was featured was just perfect. I feel like in the sequel (which has just been announced as moving forward!!!!!) there will be more romance. I personally just feel like the book didn't lack anything because it didn't have a lot of romantic moments. With all the crossover between YA and NA these days, it was really refreshing to read a book that wasn't weighted down by this big love story and steamy scenes (and y'all know I love a good scandy scene.).

Ember reminded me a lot of Red Rising. When Laia is telling about her life growing up a Scholar and then her life as a slave, it made me think of Darrow when he was a Red. When Elias was describing his time at BlackCliff as well as the trials he faces, it reminded me of when Darrow became a Gold. Also, the differences in the names in Ember is similar to the differences in names between Reds and Golds in Red Rising (i.e- Laia is just Laia, whereas Elias is Elias Veturius of Gens Veturia). The story itself is nothing like Red Rising, and I would actually compare it a lot to Legend by Marie Lu. If you have read Legend, you'll remember that Thomas and his unwavering servitude to his government and his duties. This was reminded me so much of Helene's character in Ember and is probably what reminds me of Legend the most. Forbidden love, government resistance, revenge for a fallen family member, yes yes yes! All of the things I love!

For me, this book lived up to all of its hype and more. I was completely blown away and found myself trying to read slowly (as oppose to just blowing through it) because I wanted to savor all of my time in this amazing world and with the characters. If you are a fan of true YA writing (not YA that leans towards NA regarding romance), then you will enjoy this book. It is definitely one of the best ones that I have read this year.

5/5 stars

End of Days by Susan Ee

The time has come. The End of Days Trilogy has finally come to an end. I for one am still so thankful that I waited to read this whole series until all the books were all released. I don’t think I could have waited as long as most did to get my hands on the last book. I know there’s a lot of buzz and mix feelings surrounding how this series ended. Some people think they didn’t get nearly enough out of the ending and some people are completely stratified. I fall somewhere in between but closer to happy.

End of Days picks up right where World After left off. Penryn is still off being a total Bamf angel killer, who is still coming  to terms with her family situation, along with the whole “angels have invade earth” issue. Penryn also has to really decide where her alliances will lie when everything clashes together. She is  constantly throwing all her support into saving what’s left of this world, but the true question behind this whole book is will she continue to do the same once she is told what the Angels have in store? If you think Penryn has a lot on her plate don’t even take a gander at Raffe’s. Being one of the highest ranking angels put him in the pickle of all pickles. –Does he want to stand behind Penryn and take what comes with that –become the new messenger –make his first real appearance from being “mia” –entering into a contest; these are only some of the things he is juggling. The relationship and tension between these two characters continues to grow throughout this novel as well… This is/was my only real problem with this book. I get the push and pull they have for each other and the constant need to keep their distance from one another, but honestly I was hoping for more gushy love stuff. We get a few sprinkles of scandy but nothing that really blew me out of the water. It is more then what we received in the previous two but still nothing to write home about. Though I will say the few stolen moments are so sickly sweet and I loved them… Then again, I know this is going to kind of contradict what I just said, but at the same time I can really respect this book for making it a focus on having such a strong leading female character that isn’t heavily watered down by romantic smut. Don’t fear though the banter between the two is still as strong as ever. My favorite part of their relationship is that they are will to hold onto that last strand of loyalty to each other until they won’t be able to anymore.

"This is Penryn Young, Daughter of Man, Killer of Angels"

Penryn has moved up onto the list of my favorite female heroines. She is so strong willed, determined, smart, and a girl who can really kick it and hold her own with the boys. Just love her. As for the sub characters we have her sister, Paige, who really stands out in these books and took me by surprise. Her mother who holy hot cakes is crazy-amazing, and has to be one of the most unique characters I’ve read in the longest time. My favorite sub characters however are the twins, Dee and Dum. They remind me so much of Kenji from Shatter Me and I just loved them. And when they threw up metal horns during one scene I about fell of my sofa I was laughing so hard. They bring the much needed comic relief to this dark themed book.

As for the story itself… Well I was floored by how intense and action packed it was! I wasn’t let down at all by how the story went. Everything leading up to the big bang ending was so thoroughly written. The way she has Penryn take a step back, assets the situation, then attack really made this ending a complete page turner. A girl who uses her brain instead of just rushing into situations is a girl who knows the way to my heart. There are so many new places and layers added to this story that when first presented I was worried about how they were played out, but ended up happy with their outcome. We get a new added world which I liked, along with the shattered California we have come to know. The action in this book is turned up to 11. There isn’t a time when something isn’t happening. That all being said the only other tiny tiny tiny issue I had was at the end there is this one really cheesy thing that happens, and then the last few pages seemed a little rushed. With Angelfall and World After we got a lot more raw emotion and with End of Days we get a lot more “put your heart aside and do what needs to be done”. End of Days is a book about loyalty and making the tough decisions even when you have nothing left of yourself to give.

"Any minute now, we might have to choose our loyalties. When that happens, I'd be an idiot to think we'll be on the same side."

I do fall into the same category as a lot of other people, where I wish that Susan would have done what she was thinking and written this to be a five book series. I think with even one more book, or a novella just for an epilogue would have really set this book over the top. Sadly I don’t think we’ll get either of those. I feel that with a fourth book we could get the gaga romance we are all dying for and can get back to the emotional side of things. Overall I was very happy with how this book planned out and it is hands down my favorite fallen angel series.

9/10 Stars 
-Angela  

After by Anna Todd

Tessa is a good girl with the reliable boyfriend. She’s got direction, ambition, and has her life planned out to the minute. She’s barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin.

You can go ahead and judge me for reading thing, it’s okay really, I’m already judging myself for it. When I first heard of/picked up After and saw that it was originally 1direction fan-fiction I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life. Then I kept seeing people post pictures and reviews on it all talking about how they are now hooked on this series. It physically hurts me to say thing, but I’m hooked too.
After is the epitome of what most would call “a guilty pleasure read”. I have never, ever hated two characters more than I hate Tessa and Hardin.

Tessa is: Whiny, stuck up, annoying, childish, pathetic, a H2ho, immature, irresponsible, vapid, shallow, and an overall turd. Tessa spends 90% of this book crying and the other 10% of the time coming up with reasons to cry again.

Hardin is: cocky, annoying, bizarre, stage five clinger, gross, immature, actually a woman, hot tempered, mental, and zero dark crazy. I have no doubt in my mind that Hardin is the girl in this relationship. Trust me when I say he is more pathetic than Tessa is.

That is just the tip of the iceberg on the things I loathe about these two. The relationship between the two is not only unhealthy but just downright awful. It’s unbalanced and almost always one sided. Their relationship is the further thing from romantic. Not only did I hate them when they were separate but I hated them more when they were together. Their relationship is way out in the deep end of the crazy pool and it was so bad I wanted to drown just trying to endure it.

As far as the plot goes, there’s not much of one. It’s just 600 pages of a rinse and repeat story line. Hardin acts like a dick, ask Tessa for one more chance, Tessa says okay, they make up for a day, and then the cycle starts all over again. No seriously, that’s the whole story, nothing else to it. Personally, I will say that I think people are a little harsh on Todd’s writing. Yes, it’s not the best, but I’ve definitely seen worse. It’s just light writing. You’re never going to have to Google something that is said, or have to set the book aside because it gets to deep, but it’s not the worst of the worst.

After lacks any and all originality, depth, and personality. But, you want to know what the worst part is? The downright dirty worst part?!.. Is that I couldn’t put this book down. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. I wanted to look away but just couldn’t! And just when I think I’ll finally be able to shake the madness of this book off Anna Todd hit me hard with a WTF ending, that I didn’t see coming.

I hate admitting that even though I hated everything about this book, there was just something about it that kept me coming back for more.

7.5/10 Stars 
-Angela 

Silence by Natasha Preston

Oakley Farrell hasn’t spoken in over a decade. At age five she stopped talking and no one seems to know why. Since she refuses to speak Oakley only has one friend, Cole Benson. Cole and Oakley have been friends their whole lives and have formed their own way to communicate. When forced to face the past Oakley has to decide wither to remain silent or speak out.

Silence is a book that I am going back and forth with… I'm on the fence about how to really rate it. Silence is written in dual Pov changing between both Oakley and Cole. Oakley wasn’t my favorite character. I didn’t hate her but I definitely didn’t love her. She was strong in some ways but overall pretty weak. When she does go into why she isn’t talking I did overall like the reasoning behind it. As far as a character that doesn’t speak goes she was pretty interesting. I did think that for how mature she was about her personal issue she was far too immature about others. As far as Cole’s character went I was head over heels for him. I thought he was funny, charming, and definitely swoon worthy. I liked that he was more than just a love interest that he was a great friend. Even though we got a lot less chapters from his point of view I found myself loving his side and the way he spoke way more. It was his sweetness though that really won me over. Their relationship was the biggest plus of this book. I enjoyed that we got so much back story and build up of their relationship. It wasn’t just a “hey they’ve been friends forever so that why they should be together.” It was how relationships should be: starts off as a friendship, explores that for awhile, then builds to something more. So I appreciated that it wasn’t insta love. As far as sub characters the only few that I want to touch base on. Julian (the bully), her cousin with the stupid name, and her parents. I wish we would have gotten more interaction with her mother and father and gotten more out of them. The other two I really hate, Julian and her cousin. Julian was set up to be this horrible mean bully, but all he did was be creepy then convenient. I hate random thrown in characters and he was the epitome of one. Her cousin was as equally as pointless and dumb. Overall I felt no real connection to any character except Cole.

The thing that has me torn though was the flow of the story. In the beginning the story is slow, and this isn’t my problem… In Silence case I can respect the slow start. It really made me connect more with the story and characters (aka Cole). But I still found myself wanting more out of it. I felt like the first part of the book is a two star rating (goodreads). The meaty middle of this story is what I fell hard for. I liked when the families went on vacation, I liked the sweet little dates, and the late night hang outs. I enjoyed getting to see our leading couple fall for each other. It'll give you a toothache it was just so sweet. This had me thinking the middle section of this book would be rated a solid 4 stars (goodreads). It was the ending of this book that has me annoyed. How everything plays out had me so mad. It’s clearly not a spoiler that ya girl Oakley eventually talks, and from then on out it had my blood boiling!!!! I can’t even tell you why I’m so mad either, because it would be giving out spoilers. All I can say is that the last few chapters took this book from a 4 star read to a 1. The ending could have been what it was but the way it was laid out and presented was a huge no in my book. It felt like the ending given was just so there could be a follow up book. I personally wanted this to be a standalone and play out the complete opposite of what it did... But like I said even if the ending is what it is the way it went down…. No. I’m not ok with it. It was rushed and slammed. Silence  isn't a long book and could have handled 30 more pages to make it something more. I wish the romance in this book would make up for the ending but sadly it didn't. I felt this book was just the sweeter version of Speak and it could have been similar and yet had something that made it standout.

5/10 Stars 
-Angela  

AngelFall by Susan Ee

It's been six weeks since the angels descended down and destroyed the world as we know it. Savage street gangs rule the day while something worse rules the night.

Where other books like this have lacked *cough* Hush Hush *cough* Angefall prevailed. I knew this book was going to be good, but I kept putting it off until the series was complete and now that it is I can finally dive in. And oh did I dive, I read this whole book in one sitting.I loved what Susan did with this book. Angelfall is one of the best balanced books I’ve ever read. No one thing outweighs the other. The action, the romance, characters, and the underlying story all are evenly balanced. The biggest plus of this book was that it was different. I loved the idea of Angels being the bad guys. We all know it's one thing to have an amazing book idea like this, but it's a whole different thing when it comes to having it play out well on paper... Susan nailed it.

 Angelfall takes place six weeks after Angels have come to earth and started raining hell down on everything. Penryn is our leading lady and right away we get to see that she is what is holding her family together. Her, her sister, and mother are hiding out when they start to run out of supplies and realize their building will soon be raided by gangs and that they need to move. Only issue is that Penryn’s sister Paige is in a wheelchair and her mother is suffering from schizophrenia and insist on pushing around an old shopping cart. They decide to leave at night to avoid being seen by both the Angels and the street gangs. While running they stumble upon an Angel fight where Paige ends up kidnapped and Penryn takes in/hold hostage Raffe who is now a fallen Angel. As far as characters go both Raffe and Pen are super strong. Both are fighters with such strong personalities. Both of them are very determined characters for very different reasons. Both Pen and Raffe have moved up to my list of my favorite leads. Pen is so unbelievable real and Raffe has built a category all his own. Even the moments when things are so far from being a real life situations Pen's character makes them feel real. Raffe our leading male and fallen angel is so spot on. He was witty, sarcastic, and had perfect timing.Personally he was my favorite character, and it didn't hurt that he sounded like a total panty dropper.  

"... But the truth is that we're all stumbling around in the dark. Sometimes we hit something terrible..." "...Sometimes, as we're stumbling along in the dark, we hit something good."

Since this is written only from Pen's POV we get a lot more out of her character, but I was never not satisfied with Raffe. I liked how their stories come together, I liked how they interact with one another, and I love their forbidden love. I found myself getting really caught up in their relationship, more so than I normally would. As far as sub characters go we have her mother, her sister Paige, and the Twins. All were perfect. I loved how insane-o her mother is... Like the women is next lever crazy. Besides our two main characters she was probly my favorite,and the person I'm most looking forward to reading about in the next book. The other sub characters I liked were the twins, Tweedle Dee and Dum. They were the perfect sprinkled in characters. For characters that could have easily became too convenient I never felt their presence was forced. There are a few other subs I wanted to mention but decided to leave out for certain spoily reasons.

The plot of this book is what sets this book apart from others in its genre and what made it a five star read. As I said above not one aspect overshadows another one. The setting is described to perfection. This new worlds details aren't ones you'll have to question. The action is so steady and perfectly spaced out. The romance isn’t so cheesy that you become lactos. The twist are ones you don’t seem coming, and are never pointless. The ending of this book had twist after twist and one after another I didn't see them coming... But that one twist that I really really didn't see coming, had my jaw dropping!!!!!! Susan Ee comes out of nowhere and punched me in the face!!!

I wish I could really put into words how much this series has won me over. This is a book that had it all and then some. I've fallen and I don't wanna get up from the world Susan has built. Bring on World After.  

10/10 Stars
-Angela