Top Ten Tuesday: Highest Rated Recently Read Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at Broke and Bookish. This week's theme is 10 Of My Most Recent 5 Star Reads. I've only read 10 books so far this year and I haven't given many of those books 5 stars. Since I've been a little more picky with my ratings this year, I will give my top reads and my ratings for those.

What were some of your highest rated reads so far this year?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Really Love But Haven't Talked About Enough

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at  Broke and Bookish. This week theme is Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like I Haven't Talked About Enough. When I was making this list I realized that I don't remember details of most of these books/series so I might consider rereading them at some point. Also, this week I decided to cut my list down and only do 5 books/series. Like always, these books aren't listed in a specific order. With that said, let's get into the list.

1. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz: I grew up with this series so it's been one of my favorites for a while. No one that I know has read this series so I never get to talk about it. I already have plans to reread/finish this series this year.

2. The Duff by Kody Keplinger: Right now this is one of my favorite contemporaries. When the movie came out I saw quite of few people saying they like the movie better than the book. Even though I enjoyed the movie, I still like the book a lot more. Since the movie was being targeted at a specific audience some things had to be taken out, and although I didn't agree with the things that were taken out I feel they made the story feel more real for me.

3. The Host by Stephenie Meyer: Most people that I was around was too busy caught up in the Twilight craze to read this. Because of that I rarely ever talked about up.

4. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa: Whenever this author's name comes up it's usually about her serious centered around fae. I haven't had many opportunities to talk about this book/series but I will try because I think it's worth checking out.

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Honestly most people only talk about the movies now. I've only read the series once and it was a while ago so I don't remember enough to talk about it.

What are some of the books that made it on your list?

Wonderland (Intergalactic Fairy Tales #1) by Robert McKay | Review

Wonderland  (Intergalactic Fairy Tales #1) by Robert McKay
Publisher: McKay Manor Publishing
Publication Date: August 20, 2015
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Retelling
Pages: 187
Source: Sent by Author for Review
Find on Goodreads

Goodreads Description

Teenage Alice didn’t mean to end up on Wonderland, but the living spaceship she commandeered had other plans, and he was very late.

Abandoned on an unfamiliar planet, Alice’s first day as a space pirate has fallen into madness. Caterpillars? Mad hatters? A Jabberwock? A queen known for chopping off heads? Alice must face all Wonderland can throw at her if she’s to take back possession of The White Rabbit and leave Wonderland in one piece.

My Thoughts

Wonderland is a new take on Alice in Wonderland and the first book in the Intergalactic Fairy Tales series. I've never actually read the original Alice in Wonderland (I've only ever watched different movie adaptations) so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this. When the author contacted me about review this book it sounded interesting so I decided to give it a chance.

To be honest, at first I found this really hard to get into and I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish it.  I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. One of the things I was worried about was Alice's age. Usually when I think of a teenager in a young adult novel, I think of someone that's almost an adult but Alice is on the low end of the spectrum, being only 13. I thought that would be a huge problem when it came to trying to connect with the main character but it actually was like that for the better. She's old enough to know what's going on but still young enough to enjoy the adventure in the whole situation and I really liked that.

The story started picking up for me when Alice got to Wonderland. There was such an interesting take on Wonderland in this book. Besides some of the scenes, I think this was my favorite part. Learning about and exploring Wonderland was such an adventure on it's own. So much happened but I feel like there was still so much we hadn't yet explored. 

I also enjoyed that the author was willing to take risks. This story gets really dark in places. There was a lot violence, at least a lot more than what I was expecting. Alice gets into a quite a few fight scenes and in every one of them she comes out on top. Maybe a bit unrealistic seeing as she really didn't have any previous experience fighting with a sword. However each of those fight scenes were engaging and exciting. The subject of prostitution was mentioned a couple times as well as abuse of all kinds within the "royal court" of Wonderland. Those are topics usually avoided in YA novels so it was refreshing to see darker topics brought up. 

Like I mentioned before I ended up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. If you are looking for a book with a great adventure, or even if you just want to read a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, I definitely think you should give this book a try.

*(side note) Sorry if my thoughts sound all over the place! I was having a really hard time putting my thoughts together.

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books on My Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at Broke and Bookish. It feels like it's been forever since I last did a Top Ten Tuesday. I've been trying to adjust to my new work schedule since I'm not switching from working twice a week to full time, and it hasn't been a good adjustment. Anyway, this week's theme is 10 Books on My Spring TBR. There are so many new books on my TBR but these are some of the books I'm looking forward to getting to sooner. Like I always try to do, I've picked from books I already own.

 

Crown of Midnight | A Court of Mist and Fury

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | Cinder

You | Illuminae

The Bone Season | Fangirl

I'll Give You The Sun | Every Day

Have you read any of these books? If so, what are some non-spoiler opinions? Also what are some books on your spring TBR?

February Wrap Up

This month went by so fast! That probably had something to do with February being the shortest month of the year even though there was an extra day this year. I disappeared from blogging for about the second half of the month. This was unintentional but I feel like it was needed and worth it. I got sick halfway through the month and I'm still not completely better, so that's the main reason for my disappearance. I'm pretty sure I didn't write reviews for anything I read this month but I do have my quick thoughts on how I felt right after I finished reading on goodreads. With that being said, let's get into everything book related for February.

New to My Shelves

Cinder | Fangirl | Chew | Rat Queens | The Wrath and The Dawn

February Book Haul + Unboxing 

Books I Read

Deadly Class Vol. 1 (3.5 stars) | Losing It (reread; 4 stars)

Keeping Her (4 stars) | Saga Vol. 1 (4 stars)

Currently Reading

Wonderland by Robert McKay

2016 Reading Challenges

So far I have read 8 books towards my overall 50 book reading goal for the year. According to goodreads, right now I'm on track. I did update some of my other challenges I have linked but I haven't added all the books I've read yet. I will be doing that as soon as I can but there hasn't been too much more I need to update.

Was February a good reading month for you? Any new favorites?