Snacks & Paperbacks

  Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist: Break into the notorious Ice Court (a military stronghold that has never been breached) Retrieve a hostage (who could unleash magical havoc on the world) Survive long enough to collect his reward (and spend it) Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first. I fully understand the love this book has received from many people. I really do. It gave me a Shades of Magic vibe, which I really enjoyed. “No mourners. No funerals. Among them, it passed for 'good luck'.” But there was just something about this book that made it really hard for me to get into the story. Maybe it ...

It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle. Su...

To keep track of my goals and progress, I am going to give you all a monthly update each month. In these posts I will tell you about the book(s) I read during the month and update my progress on both the reading challenges. Books. This month, I read a total of 4 books. Due to some health issues, I wasn't able to read much more, but I'm still quite happy about the 4 books I was able to read. I started the month with Final Girls by Riley Sager. This was a book I was very excited and curious about ever since it came out, and I absolutely DEVOURED it! For someone who hasn't ever really been into thrillers before, that really got me into exploring this new-to-me genre. My non-spoilery review can be found here . After finishing that, I felt like reading another suspensefull and exciting book, so I picked up Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This was such a trippy read that really asks a lot of philosophical questions that will keep your mind occupied, plus it is really ...

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised. With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met. I found out about this book through the first released footage of the m...

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. This was quite a compelling read that explor...

To keep track of my goals and progress, I am going to give you all a monthly update each month. In these posts I will tell you about the book(s) I read during the month and update my progress on both the reading challenges. Books This month, I was able to read 6 books, which surprised me! Of to a good start! I started the year of with a book to improve my life, to inspire me to work on myself in the new year: A Beautiful Mind, A Beautiful Life: The Bubz Guide to Being Unstoppable , written by Lindy Tsang. You can find my review here . The second book I read this month was All the Ugly and Wonderful Things , written by Bryn Greenwood. This was quite a heavy book about a shocking love story between a child and a man. It was really intense and made me feel very ambiguous. You can find my review of this shocking story here. After that, I started Far from the Tree by Robin Benway, which is about 3 adopted siblings finding each other. I had heard so many good things about t...

Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life - which means getting into the right high school to get into the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself. Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety. Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. This book, compared to my other reads so far this year, is old. It was first published in 2006, so that makes it about 12 years old. The first time I read this was in 2011 and my goodness, I LOVED ...

For the first time ever, Lily shares her life and her own deepest secrets, underlining that every single one of us experiences pain and heartbreak. We all understand what it’s like to live in the light and in the dark. For Lily, it’s about making it through to the other side, where you love what you see in the mirror and where you embrace yourself just as you are. She's learned that all it takes is one person standing up and saying something for everyone else to realize they’re not alone. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Lily’s honest voice will inspire you to be who you are and say what you feel. It’s time to claim your voice! It’s time to live your life unfiltered. The first chapter explains exactly what I know her from. She came to my attention when I was in a stage of my life where I was very insecure. Then one time, I read all this criticism about her eyebrows: how they were too big and too bushy. I never agreed, I though her eyebrows look good. Then I read...

A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment. Being the middle child has its ups and downs. But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including— Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs. And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears ar...

Eight-year-old Wavonna (Wavy) Quinn is the daugther of a meth-dealer knows not to trust anybody, not even her parents. S truggling to raise her little brother, Wavy is the only responsible "adult" around. She finds peace in the starry Midwestern night sky above the fields behind her house. One night everything changes when she witnesses one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold, wreck his motorcycle. What follows is a powerful and shocking love story between two unlikely people that asks tough questions, reminding us of all the ugly and wonderful things that life has to offer. Well, the blurb was right: a shocking love story. The subject makes it quite hard to review, because I don't want to give anybody the wrong idea. So, to all of you reading this: I do not support these kind of relationships. "Odd couple that they were, they had a real connection." So, the subject made this a very ambigiuous story, as it ...

Every year I like to set a few reading goals for myself, because the feeling you get when you accomplish a goal is amazing and rewarding. Whenever I accomplish a goal, I feel invincible! It makes me feel super confident and ready to take on the world. How many? So, I set myself the goal of reading (at least) 40 books this year. Last year, my goal was 24 (2 books each month) and I finished with 33 books, which was totally unexpected! If you want to know which 33 books I read, check out my 2017 bookshelve on Goodreads, which you can find here ! Because of my unexpected succes, I decided to aim a little higher this year. I did some calculations about this: 365 days in the year devided by 40 books: this leaves me 9 days per book I read, which I feel comfortable with. Share! Another goal I've set myself is to review all the books I read. This is something I hope (and expect) my blog to help me with. I love talking about books, but I've found when I'm putting my thoughts t...