Book Review - The City of Ashes

The City of Ashes 

(Mortal Instruments #2)

Cassandra Clare

6 Stars
453 Pages
Ya / Fantasy / Paranormal / Supernatural


This was a typical second installment of a longish series. We got quite a few little answers to questions from the first novel and the information we already had was expanded on. There was action, but a lot of things were left unresolved, my biggest issue was the character dynamics, which were either at a stand still or ran in circles. However I got the impression it is building up to a few major climax's between several sets of characters and that there is going to be almost a first and second "half" of the series marked by the end of the third book.

The Summary is below this page break
There are Spoilers so BEWARE! I did try to leave out as many as possible so it is a bit of a point blank style

Reading Challenge - Popsugar 2016

Link the the original post Here

There are 40 Books on this list

A Book Based on a Fairy Tale
The Lunar Chonicles, Marissa Meyer

A National Book Award Winner

A YA Bestseller
Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas

A Book You Haven't Read Since High School
The Summoning, Kelley Armstrong

A Book Set in Your Home State/Province (AB, Canada)

A Book Translated Into English

A Romance Set in the Future

A Book Set in Europe
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Lani Taylor

A Book Under 150 Pages
Animal Farm, George Orwell

A New York Times Bestseller

A Book That's Becoming a Movie This Year
When a Monster Calls, Patrick Ness

A Book Recommended By Someone You Just Met
Every Heart A Doorway, Seanan McGuire

A Self-Improvement Book

A Book You Can Finish in One Day
A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay

A Book Written by a Celebrity

A Political Memoir

A Book at Least 100 Years Older Than You (1895)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stephenson (published 1886)

A Books Thats More Than 600 Pages
The Stand, Stephen King (my edition has 1153 pages - my longest book of the year)

A Book From Oprah's Book Club

A Science Fiction Novel

A Book Recommended by a Family Member
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (recommended by my Dad)

A Graphic Novel
Sin City, Frank Miller

A Book Published in 2016
End of Watch, Stephen King

A Book With a Protagonist Who Has Your Occupation

A Book That Takes Place During Summer

A Book and its Prequel

A Murder Mystery

A Book Written by a Comedian

A Dystopian Novel

A Book With a Blue Cover
Misery, Stephen King

A Book of Poetry

The First Book You See in a Bookstore

A Classic From the 20th Century
The Lord of the Rings

A Book From the Library
A Madness so Discreet, Mindy McGinnis

An Autobiography

A Book About a Roadtrip

A Book About a Culture You're Unfamiliar With

A Satirical Book

A Book That Takes Place on an Island

A Book That's Guaranteed to Bring You Joy
Harry Potter, JK Rowling

Reading Challenge - BookRiot Read Harder

A Horror Novel

A Non-fiction Book About Science

A Collection of Essays

A Book Loved by Someone Else
Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz

A Middle Grade Novel

A Biography (not a memoir or autobiography)

A Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic

A Book Published in the decade you were born (1990's for me)

An Award Winning Audiobook

A Book Longer Than 500 Pages

A Book By or About a Transgenered Person

A Book Set in the Middle East

A Historical Fiction Set Before 1900
Pride and Prejeduce

First Book in a Series by a Person of Colour

A Non-Superhero Comic Published in the Last 3 Years

Read a Book that was Adapted into a Movie, Watch the Movie. Which was Better?

A Non-fiction Feminist Novel

A Book about Religion

A Political Book

A Food Memoir

A Play

A Book with a Main Character Suffering from Mental Illness
Sins of the Mother, Irene Kelley

Reading Challenge -Bustle Reads 2016

20 Books

Read a Book Written By a Woman Under 25

Read a Book About Non-Western History

A Book of Essays

Read a Book About an Indigenous Culture

Read a Book Before You See The Movie
When A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness

Read a Ya Book by an Author of Colour

A Book Set in the Middle East

A Book About Women in War

Read a Graphic Novel Written by a Woman

A Book About an Immigrant or Refugee to the USA

Read a Children's Book Aloud

Reread Your Favourite Book From Your Childhood

Read a Memoir by Someone Who Identifies as LGBTQIA

Read a Work of Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Written by a Woman

Read a Feminist Sci-Fi Novel

Read the First Book in a series You've Never Read

Read a Book Set in Africa (bonus : by an Author From Africa)
A Thousand Lives : The Untold Story of Hope, Deception and Survival in Jonestown, Julia Scheeres

A Translated Book

A Contemporary Collection of Poetry

A Book by a Modernist Woman Writer

Wrap Up - December

I missed a few novels in my November wrap-up, right at the end of the month I finished up

Sins of the Mother, Irene Kelley
Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Stephen King

The beginning of this month was a bit of a nightmare with school, I also picked up a few video games (Banished and Starcraft) which took up an embaressing amount of time. I also started watching a few Tv shows (SOA, Vikings - I want to start up True Blood again). So all in all I didn't do as much reading as I could have.

1. Night Shift, Stephen King
2. Eleanor, Jason Gurley
3. A Thousand Lives: The untold story of hope, deception and survival in Jonestown, Julia Scheeres
4. The Girl With All the Gifts, M R Carey
5. Everythings Eventual, Stephen King
6. Four Past Midnight, Stephen King
7. Different Seasons, Stephen King

Full Wrap Up 2016!

I read ______ books in 2016 my goal was 52 books (which I had accomplished by September!) 

1. In the After Light, Alexandra Bracken
2. Never Fade, Alexandra Bracken
3. Superstitious, RL Stine
4. Twisted, Andrew E Kaufman
5. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
6. Forever Odd, Dean Koontz
7. Odd Interlude, Dean Koontz
8. Brother Odd, Dean Koontz
9. Red Dragon, Thomas Harris *reread
10. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
11. From Darkness Comes the Horror Box Set (8 books)
1. That Ghoul Ava by TW Brown 
2. Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke 
3. The Colony: Genesis by Michaelbrent Collings 
4. Chronicler of the Undead by Mainak Dhar 
5. Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman 
6. Chasing Spirits by Glynn James 
7. The Home by Scott Nicholson 
8. Preta's Realm: The Haunting (Book 1 of The Hidden Evil Trilogy) by J. Thorn 
12. Wife Number Seven, Melissa Brown
13. Under the Banner of Heaven, John Krauker
14. Berserk, Tim Lebbon *reread
15. A Babies Cry, Cathy Glass 
16. Winter, Marissa Meyer
17. A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay
18. Cabin in the Woods, Tim Lebbon
19. The Saddest Girl in the World, Cathy Glass
20. Please Don't Take my Baby, Cathy Glass
21. The Stain, Guillermo Del Toro
22. The Fall, Guillermo Del Toro
23. Eternal Night, Guillermo Del Toro
24. Sickened : the memoir of a munchausen by proxy childhood, Julie Gregory 
25. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Robert Louise Stevenson
26. Cress, Marissa Meyer
27. Dark Hunter Box Set (Books 1 - 21), Sherrilyn Kenyon
28. One Foot in the Gravc, Jeannie Frost *reread
29. Halfway to the Grave, Jeannie Frost
30. At Graves End, Jeannie Frost
31. Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Marilyn Manson *reread
32. Serial Killers the faces of evil - Magazine
33. In the Afterlight, Alexandra Bracken
34. Killer Families : murder by dads, moms, kids and spouses, Sylvia Perrin
35. The Stand, Stephen King
36. Misery, Stephen King
37. Salem's Lot, Stephen King
38. The Fireman, Joe Hill
39. Bloody Bank Heist, Tim Miller
40. Hell Texas, Tim Miller
41. The Summoning, Kelley Armstrong
42. The Awakening, Kelley Armstrong
43. I Ripper, Stephen Hunter
44. The Reckoning, Kelley Armstrong
45. Omens, Kelley Armstrong
46. Bloodtraitor, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
47. Visions, Kelley Armstrong
48. Deceptions, Kelley Armstrong
49. The Lord of the Rings : Two Towers, JRR Tolkien 
50. Betrayals, Kelley Armstrong
51. The Masked Truth Kelley Armstrong
52. The Lord of the Rings : Return of the King, JRR Tolkien
53. Animal Farm, George Orwell
54. Fingers Keepers, Stephen King
55. 1984, George Orwell
56. A Madness so Discreet, Mindy McGinnis 
57. Fairest, Marissa Meyer
58. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien 
59. Odd Apocalypse, Dean Koontz
60. Deeply Odd, Dean Koontz
61. Saint Odd, Dean Koontz 
62. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
63. The Zoo, James Patterson 
64. Northanger Abby, Jane Austen 
65. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 
66. Persuasion, Jane Austen
67. Sin City : The Hard Goodbye, Frank Miller
68. Skeleton Crew, Stephen King
69. A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness
70. Sin City : Family Values
71. Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas
72. Sins of the Mother, Irene Kelley
73. Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Stephen King
74. Eleanor, Jason Gurley
75. A Thousand Lives : The untold story of hope, deception and survival in Jonestown. Julia Scheeres
76. The Girl With All the Gifts, M R Carey 
77. Just After Sunset, Stephen King
78. Everythings Eventual, Stephen King
79. Four Past Midnight, Stephen King
80. Different Seasons, Stephen King

Top 5 Wednesday - December 2016

December 7th - Books You Want to Finally Read in 2017 

1. The Dark Tower Series, Stephen King
2. The Diabolic, SJ Kincaid
3. The Girl With All the Gifts, MR Carey
4. Rituals, Kelley Armstrong
5. A Storm of Swords, George RR Martin

December 14th - Series That Got Worse with Each Book/Season 

1. Bloody Jack, LA Meyer
2. Warriors, Erin Hunter *way too long
3. 50 Shades of Grey, EL James * should never have been a trilogy. 
4. The Strain Guillermo Del Toro
5. Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snickett *Not bad but confusing, and the questions were never answered

December 21st - Fictional Items You'd Give as Gifts

1. Wands, Time Turner, Invisibility Cloaks, Broomsticks, Harry Potter, JK Rowling
2. Enchanted Swords, Magic Rings, Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
3. Dragon, Eragon, Christopher Paloni
4. The Horns, Joe Hill
5. Wonkas Factory, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Road Dahl

December 28th - Characters You'd Invite to Your New Year's Eve Party 
Pretty self explanatory. Who would you want to your NYE bash and why? 

1. Gabriel, Cainsville, Kelley Armstrong
2. The Monster, A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness
3. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
4. Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris
5. Shot Gun Suzie, The Nightside, Simon R Green

TBR - December

Sorry that this is a little late, but better late than never! It is the final month of the year, the Christmas month! I got through 73 books so far this year and I am so happy with that, my goal was 52 books (one for every week of the year) so anything I read this month is more or less a bonus!

I am not putting any Christmas books on this list but I do read all my childhood favourites as I unpack them with the decorations!

1. Different Seasons, Stephen King
2. Everything's Eventual, Stephen King
3. Four Past Midnight, Stephen King
4. Just After Sunset, Stephen King
5. Elanor, Jason Gurley
6. Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women, Sara Helm

I have started all of these books, the first four are short story collections. The last two are reading challenge novels. 

Top 5 Wednesday - November 2016

November 2nd: Most Misleading Synopses

This is such a great topic and I love it!
I try purposely NOT  to read synopses  because of how misleading they can be. I have read books with terrible synopsis and loved them and vice versa. More often than not the issues is misconception. Il go into a book with a preconceived idea and when it doesn't match I will enjoy the book less; where as if I hadn't known anything I would have loved some of these novels for what they are instead of getting hung up on what they aren't.

1. A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness - The title, the synopsis and the cover art go hand in hand to make it seem like something horrorish which it is not. 
2. A Madness so Discreet, Mindy McGinnis - again more than just the synopsis went into this, it was also that first couple of chapters. Those perfect chapters that made the rest of the book pale in comparison. 
3. The Fireman, Joe Hill - again an amazing novel, but just not as action packed and intense as the synopsis convinced me it would be.
4. The Psychopath Test : A Journey Through the Madness Industry, Jon Ronson
5. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden - This is my reverse novel for this list. As a classic (used in my midgrades English class) the synopsis was as much about its reputation as what the novel was about. I was dreading this novel and it turned out to be awesome. 

November 9th: Characters You Used to Love but Don't Anymore 

This is a really tough question for me because I don't really have anyone who jumped to mind immediately. I am pretty opinionated one way or the other and didn't start reading much YA until I was older and I feel like those are the characters that fit this category best

November 16th: Favourite Publishers 
I pay very little attention to publishers, yes I know the big names but its not something thats normally in my mind when picking a book. I know these are all big name, I just googled names and picked the ones that I knew

1. Simon and Schuster 
2. Penguin Random House
3. Harper Collins
4. Scholastic - all the nostalgia, used to be such a great week at school getting the flier. Didn't often get anything but when I did it was so special.
5. Macmillan 

November 23: Books I Want to Re-Read

1. Narnia, CS Lewis
2. Strangers in Paradise, Terry Moore
3. The Nightside Series, Simon R Green
4. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
5. Savage & The Beast House, Richard Laymon

November 30th: Favorite Villains 

1. Jim Rennie, Under the Dome, Stephen King
2. Mr. Hyde, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stephenson
3. Charlie Manx, NOS4A2, Joe Hill
4. The Rats, Redwall Series, Brian Jaques
5. Sorla, Fire Bringer, David Clement Davis

Wrap Up - November

The first true month of Winter! Just finighing up the last bit of school and am really happy with how much reading I acctually got a chance to do. 

1. Sin City : The Hard Goodbye, Frank Miller
2. Skeleton Crew, Stephen King
3. A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness
4. Sin City : Family Values
5. Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas

TBR - November

This is going to be a short list, I just haven't had the time to read lately. I had set my expectations for September/October really high, I didn't do too badly with my goals but I didn't meet them either which is disappointing, I would rather set the bar low and exceed it. I been listening to more audiobooks than doing actual reading when I have had a little bit of time. 

If I do get through these I have a few other Stephen Kings that I would like to get into, mostly his short stories. A

Wrap Up - October

My favourite month of the year! My birthday, Thanksgiving and Halloween. The true beginning of fall (my favourite season), the first snows of the year!
My goal for September was 15 books and I only got through 13 but had started another 2 before the end of the month. So 17 books was my goal for this month.

1.  Fairest, Marissa Meyer
2. The Hobbit, JRR Tokien
3. Odd Apocalypse, Dean Koontz
4. Deeply Odd, Dean Koontz
5. Saint Odd Dean Koontz
6. End of Watch, Stephen King
7. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
8. The Zoo, James Patterson
9. Northanger Abby, Jane Austen 
10. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 
11. Persuasion, Jane Austen
12. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis

I started so many books this month and I wont be finishing these three just couldn't get into them.

1. Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia
2. The Witches, Stacy Schiff
3. The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater

Top 5 Wednesday - October 2016

October 5th: Books That Took You the Longest to Finish
--These are the books that you had on your nightstand "in progress" for months or years. The books that you took weeks to read because they put you in a slump. Those books that were an uphill battle. These are books you started and actually read, not books you've just had on your shelf the longest.

1. The Lord of the Rings Omnibus , JRR Tolkien (1 year 4 months)
2. Odd Apocalypse, Dean Koontz (6 Months)
3. The Stand, Stephen King (9 Months)
4. Fast Fodd Nation, Eric Schlosser (3 Years)
5. Dracula, Bram Stoker (1 year)

October 12th: Inaccurate Book Covers
--Those books that have nothing to do with the story, or the cover model doesn't look anything like the actual main character, or it's a really cheesy cover for a great read!

1. Deceptions and Betrayals, Kelley Armstrong (different covers from the first two novels in the series which fit the books so well)
2. The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken

With a variety of covers to chose from with audiobooks, thankfully I don't often have this problem of publishers changing cover styles mid trilogy or series. 

October 19th: Favorite Non-Canon Couples
--These are the couples you love, but they never got together in canon (canon meaning: what actually happened in the text). Or that did get together, but weren't together in the end of the series. Or a couple you ship but it's actually impossible for them to be together because they are from different worlds, franchises, etc. Let your heart run wild. I know mine will.

1. Thornhallow and Grace Mae, A Madness So Discreet, Mindy McGinnis - a "more" in thier relationship was hinted at but I would like to see them "official"
2. Harper Greyson and The Fireman, The Fireman, Joe Hill - again hinted at but never came to full fruit
3. Datura and Patrick Bateman, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis and Forever Odd, Dean Koontz - the psychopathic pair would be a murdering cult leader wet dream
4. Cole and Ruby, The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken 
5. Alex and Francis Alex, Pierre Lemaitre, Red Dragon, Thomas Harris  

October 26: Favorite Spooky Settings
--These can be settings that exist in books or ones you'd like to see in books. Also, if you are like me, you don't really have to make this about horror or scary settings. You can also use eerie, atmospheric settings. Macabre settings. Eclectic settings.

1. The Attic of the Dolarhyde home, Red Dragon, Thomas Harris
2. The Sewer System in Derry, It, Stephen King
3. The Cellar, Beast House Chronicles, Richard Laymon
4. The Church, Horns, Joe Hill
5. The Basement, The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum

Wrap Up - September 2016

Starting school this month meant that I wasn't sure how my reading routine would be set up. I was kind of hoping for about 30 minutes a day, I think I ended up with closer to 60 minutes on average. Probably closer to 2-3 hours on the weekend - with the first week of September being the long weekend. I am pretty happy with how it all ended up. I have been really bad with publishing TBR's this year and didn't get one out until have the middle of the month :(  so it was a combination of September and October (link here) . While 15 books a month seemed ridiculously ambitious at the time I might get pretty close to finishing, although I doubt it will be the books I had listed. Any of the novels with a  " *** " where on my TBR. And (for once) this months list is in the order I read them!

*The links over the novels is too the full book review

1. Omens, Kelley Armstrong ***
2. Bloodtraitor, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
3. Visions, Kelley Armstrong ***
4. The Lord of the Rings : the Two Towers, JRR Tolkien 
5. Deceptions, Kelley Armstrong ***
6. Betrayals, Kelley Armstrong ***
7. The Masked Truth, Kelley Armstrong
8. The Lord of the Rings : Return of the King, JRR Tolkien
9. Animal Farm, George Orwell
10. Finders Keepers, Stephen King ***
11. Every Heart A Doorway, Seanan McGuire
12. A Madness So Discreet, Mindy McGinnis 
13. 1984, George Orwell

Started 

1. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
2. Fairest, Marissa Meyer

I also read a few essays/short stories this month 

A Door in the Wall, HG Wells
The Open Window, Saki
The Verger Somerset Maugham
Rocking Horse Winner, DH Lawrence

Favourite Book this month was :

Top 5 Wednesday - September 2016

September 14: Books You Want to See as TV Shows 

So last month we had the books you will never read ever as a repeat topic from last year and this is this months repeat so (Link Here) to the one I did in May last year.

So with these it is totally dependant on having amazing directors and actors, I don't have suggestions for which actors should play each character but if you have an idea post a comment below!

1. Cainsville, Kelley Armstrong *
2. Savage, Richard Laymon
3. Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris*their was an existing TV show, it was cancelled. It was events before the first novel started but I would like to see them do a series that follows the books (much like Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins) They did make movies, but they just didn't have the right actors and between each movie the actors changed (which was really off-putting)and you can't put that much information from the books into a film.
4. Dead River Trilogy, Jack Ketchum *again they did low budget movies but this could be an amazing TV series and I think now is the time to make this kind of show with graphic violence, sexual assault, murder being very "the norm" for an average tv watcher. 
5. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz

September 21: Characters You WOULDN'T Want to Trade Places With 

1. Paul Sheldon, Misery, Stephen King
2. Mary Barrett, A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay
3. Sickened : the memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy childhood, Julie Gregory *non-fiction :(
4. Sara Foster, Right to Life, Jack Ketchum 
5. Sara, Kate, or Anna  (the mother, the sick daughter and the other daughter) My Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult

September 28: Gateway Books to Your Favorite Genre 
I feel like most of my answers are younger books because that is where most readers start (younger being childhood through to late teens). I kind of tried to order this youngest to oldest. Can't wait to see other peoples answers because I don't think I answered this question very well

1. Goosebumps, RL Stine - Horror
2. Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket - Mystery
3. Royal Diaries / Princess Diaries, Various Authors - Historical Fiction / Memoirs
4. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer -YA, Romance, Vampires
5. Horns, Joe Hill - Thriller, Mystery

*The Question for September 7: Characters You'd Want as Family : in a broad way or be specific  (i.e. so-and-so would be a cool aunt, or whoever would be a great brother, etc.)

I am not going to answer this question because I don't feel like it. 

reply | flag *

TRB - September & October 2016

So i've been watching lots of booktube videos lately and this is partially inspired by the TBR shame tags. So this is a total list of novels I have set aside to read. I doubt I will get through them all in the next couple of months. But a girl can dream right?
This is also somewhat of a book ban, as I want to get these done before I start adding to this list.

1. Deceptions and Betrayal, Kelley Armstrong, Cainsville 3 & 4
2. The Thirst 1 - 5, Christopher Pike
3. Frankenstein 1 2 3, Dean Koontz
4. The Complete Vampire Chronicles (12 books!), Anne Rice
5. Finders Keepers & End Game, Stephen King
6. The Millenium Trilogy, Stieg Larson *aka The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
7. Night Huntress Novels 4, 5, 6, Jeaniene Frost

So a total of 30 books, and it looks more like 10 on the shelf because most of them are in box sets or omnibuses 

Yes I know this list isn't insanely long, but I never keep to many books around or else I start to feel overwhelmed and read nothing at all. So that little anxiety keeps me from having piles and piles of unread books. 

Top 5 Wednesday - August 2016

August 3rd: Books You Feel Differently About
-- Talk about the books that you feel differently about after you've had time to think about them or re-read them. These are books that you gave a low rating, and then thought about it or re-read it and ended up loving. Or a book that you loved when you first read it, but after you've thought about it or you've gotten older, you see how many problems it had. 

1. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer - Like so many people I read it and loved it, I was a little before the curve and was then put off when it ended up being this big deal. It now has a very sentimental place in my heart I will admit that it is flawed but I love it for what it is. Its a great gateway novel to YA, Vampire novels, or if your older Vampire Romance leading to their own full geners 
2. Memoirs of a Giesha, Arthur Golden - I read it in grade 10 and I was so unhappy with the reading list and the way that the whole class was set up. I hated every page of every book I read there, including this one. But it stayed with me and after a re-read I have to say it didn't jump to the top of my favourites list but its a good read. 
3. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein - I tried to read it innumerable times and its wordy, long and tedious. I couldn't find a plot line or story. I had no sense of time, the characters where confusing who was who and what they were ect. Finally I got the general idea of what the whole plot was (I haven't seen the movies but I know what its about) and then I got the three novels on audiobook. I now love these books and plan on rereading them over and over (on audiobook maybe in print one day). 
4. Odd Thomas - I didn't like the style, tone, rhythm of the writing when I first read them. But they were a recommendation and I felt like I should read at least the first three books before passing judgement on one of my friends favourite series. From the third novel on the books just keep getting better and better. How much I enjoyed 3&4 totally changed how I thought about 1&2. I think if I reread them I will like the books better now.
5. Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins & If I Stay, Gayle Forman & Ruby Red, Kerstin Geir - There are so many new YA's that I loved, they were amazing books, great worlds. And then they added more novels and they brought the first books down from a 4/5 stars to 2/3.

August 10th: Authors You Are Waiting on Another Book From
-- These are your favorite authors who you want to write another book but haven't yet. Or they are writing something, but no title or synopsis has been released and it isn't coming out until 2018. Try to keep this to authors who haven't announced anything concrete about a new book, not authors that have a highly anticipated release coming out before the end of 2016. 

1. Stephen King
2. Tamora Pierce
3. Cathy Glass

August 17th: Favorite First Sentences 

1. "The Nightside is the dark, secret, brooding heart of London; hidden away from the rest of the world, where magic is realer than you can bear, where lives and souls and everything else you can think of are always up for sale and all your worst dreams go walking openly in borrowed flesh" - A Hard Days Knight , Simon R Green
2. "Jack Torrance thought : Officious little prick" - The Shinning, Stephen King
3. “How does one describe Artemis Fowl? Various psychiatrists have tried and failed.” - Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
4. "I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher" -The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
5. "Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not at the subconscious level where savage things grow. " - Carrie, Stephen King.

August 24th: Books You Want to Read Before the End of the Year 

1. End of Watch, Stephen King
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larson
3. Odd Thomas 3&4&5&6&7, Dean Koontz
4. Zoo, James Patterson
5. Throne of Glass, Sara J Maas

August 31st: Books You Will Never Read
--Whether it's from a series that you have outgrown or don't wish to continue, or they are popular books that just don't interest you.

*I know I've done this before (Link Here) so trying to name new books or recent not to read novels.

1. Ps. I Still Love You, Jenny Han
2. Elanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell 

I really don't have any others I can think of that I am for sure NEVER reading but these next three arn't on my TBR and don't really sound appealing

1. The Lux Series, Jennifer L Armentrout
2. The Selection Series, Kira Cass
3. The Winners Trilogy, Marie Rutkoski

Wrap Up - August 2016

Got lots of reading done this month. Had lots of time to read in the airport, travelling is one of my favorite reading times because you don't really have anything else around to distract you. Extended uninterrupted reading time for the win!

1. The Stand, Stephen King
2. Hell, Texas, Tim Miller
3. Bloody Bank Heist, Tim Miller
4. The Fireman, Joe Hill
5. Salem's Lot, Stephen King *I am not going to do a full book review for this book, I just don't have enough to say, It was great, a must read for Dracula fans. Very much a vampire novel, not so much a typical King.
6. Misery, Stephen King
7. I Ripper, Stephen Hunter
8. The Darkest Powers Trilogy, Kelley Armstrong
1. The Summoning 
2. The Awakening 
3. The Reckoning

Favorite Book This Month

Wrap Up - July 2016

Once I started this list I realized I had done more reading than I thought, pretty happy with what I got through this month.

1. One Foot in the Gravc, Jeannie Frost *reread
2. Halfway to the Grave, Jeannie Frost
3. At Graves End, Jeannie Frost
4. Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Marilyn Manson *reread
5. Serial Killers the faces of evil - Magazine
6. In the Afterlight, Alexandra Bracken
7. Killer Families : murder by dads, moms, kids and spouses, Sylvia Perrin

Was really excited to get back into Jeannie Frost's, Night Huntress Series, they are quick and easy reads. I really like her characters and will post a review of it all. I did find that by the end of the third novel I just wasn't feeling it (nothing to do with the book). I didn't start the fourth, tried a different romance, couldn't get into it. Tried a few lighter novels one adult one ya, just wasn't sparking any interest. In a bit of a reading slump.

Also picked up The Stand, read just under half on several occasions, its a pretty sizable detailed slowish read. Around halfway through it now hoping to finish it in August.

Top 5 Wednesday - February 2016

February 3 - Biggest Badasses

1. Shot Gun Suzie, Nightside Series, Simon R Green
2. Archeron, Dark Hunter Universe, Sherrilyn Kenyon
3. Bekka Cooper, Diana, Alanna, and Kel, Tortal, Tamora Pierce
4. Jack Sawyer, The Talisman
5. Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum

February 10 - Books You Were Spoiled For *what spoiled them

1. Divergent (only book 1), Veronica Roth *movie trailer
2. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald *people
3. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer *people
4. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien *films
5. Immortals Tamora Pierce & DarkHunters, Sherrilyn Kenyon

The first four books where (as I am sure you know) super popular and then they where all made into movies. The final books where spoiled but they weren't at the same time, both are book collections that have multiple series within themselves, in reading other novels I acquired information that revealed the outcomes of other books

February 17 - Best Suggested Books You Loved (books recommended to you)

1. The Lunar Chronicles. Marissa Meyer 
2. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
3. Bloody Jack Series, LA Meyer
4. The Shinning, Stephen King
5. Warriors, Erin Hunter

February 24 - Worst Love Interests (male or female) 

1. Liam Stewart, The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken
2. Ana Steele and Christain Grey, 50 Shades of Grey, EL James
3. Aiden, Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
4. Rafe, The Darkness Rising, Kelly Armstrong
5. Gwen, The Precious Stone Trilogy, Kerstine Gier