Top Ten Tuesday: Books To Read If You Like The Mortal Instruments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week you can read the title because I don't feel like repeating myself.  Honestly, I don't entirely trust posts like these!  To me, books are very individual, and just because you liked one doesn't guarantee you will like the other!  That is one reason that this is another short Top Ten Tuesday.  The other reason is lack of time.  School and life are both quite hectic right now and although I try my best, for the next two weeks or so my posting may be a bit off!

1.  The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Holly Black and Cassandra Clare have very similar writing styles.  They have to, considering they did write a book together.  That isn't this book, but The Darkest Part of the Forest is certainly wonderful.  It has just the right amount of whimsy and horror.

2.  The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Things The Mortal Instruments and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer have in common: angst, tension, and sarcasm sprinkled in among the horror.  

3.  Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Complex plots and characters are two factors this series and The Mortal Instruments share.  I do not recommend if you dislike cliff hangers, although you are probably used to them after having read Cassandra Clare's books.

4.  The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Remarkable characters, remarkable quotes--yep, just like a Cassandra Clare book.  The world building is also something I would like to compare, since both are fantastic.  Really, I have just mentioned this series so many times that it has probably become redundant.

5.  Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

I don't know what it is exactly, but something about this book reminds me of The Mortal Instruments.  Or should I say that The Mortal Instruments reminds me of Cruel Beauty, which I read first?  I don't know--just go read this.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Publication Date:  October 21, 2014
Publisher:  Scholastic Press
Pages:  391  
Series:  The Raven Cycle #3
Genre:  Supernatural
Synopsis:  There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up. 

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. 

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost. 

Friends can betray. 
Mothers can disappear. 
Visions can mislead. 
Certainties can unravel.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week is another seasonal TBR list!  In case you didn't know, I am atrocious at sticking to TBR's.  Until I did the Summer version of this, I had never planned one before!  I'm a mood reader--but that's a post for another day.

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

Publication Date:  February 3, 2015
Publisher:  William Morrow
Series:  Stand Alone
Pages:  310
Genre:  Short Stories
Synopsis:  Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In "Adventure Story"--a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane--Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience "A Calendar of Tales" are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year--stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother's Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale "The Case of Death and Honey". And "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we're all alone in the darkness.

Top Ten Tuesday: Hyped Books I am Afraid to Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week was a freebie week!  The decision was left to moi on what topic this Tuesday's post would be--which was a dangerous thing to do.  But don't fret, I went easy on you guys and am now listing the top ten hyped book that I am terrified to read.  Without further ado, here they are:

Libraries and Why They are Awesome

I love the library.  Free books, free magic, and free stories? Um, yes, please.  Most of the books I read, I get from my local public library.  If they don't have it, I request it from another branch in the county and it is sent directly to the library I visit. There is also the e-book library app I have on my Nook.  Without a doubt, libraries are one of the best places in this universe.  So why are they supposedly going out of fashion?  They are magical and under-appreciated creatures. That's ridiculous, so here are some reasons why libraries are truly awesome.  

1.  Books Cost Money

As much as I adore staring longingly at gorgeous shelves of beautiful books, that is sadly never going to be my bookshelf.  For one, books?  They cost money.  Even when I have money, I don't like spending it.  So if a book is at the library, I will get it there, rather than purchasing it.  Sure, some books I wish I could own, but realistically, I don't need to own them to survive (however, reading books is key to my survival).

2.  What if...?

A horrible, awful, abysmal thing I do is being totally indecisive and uncertain about buying books.  What if I don't like it?  What if I hate the characters?  What if I regret it?  With the library, I don't have to regret anything because I don't have to invest any money in what I think of as a "risk".  (Yes, I do realize how ridiculous that is, but would my mind accept this?  Nope).  Library books can also be returned.  Hated that book?  You never have to see it again.       

3.  Wi-Fi

Libraries have free Wi-Fi.  Enough said.

4.  Librarians

Have you ever talked to a librarian?  They are pretty cool, if you ask me.  You like books, they like books, and they can help you find new books to be obsessed with.  What's not to like?  

5.  Free Information

Libraries make books and information available to everyone. Imagine, all those worlds, all those thoughts, right there for the taking?  (Or checking out).  To get rid of libraries would to be limiting access to new information, which is something that should never be done.  I mean, we have all read those dystopian books that do things like that, right?

6.  Atmosphere

The atmosphere of a library is different from a bookstore.  At the library, you see books that other people have read and loved.  I like my books pristine and pretty, too, but there is something about seeing a page that has been dog-eared by someone else and finding out what they loved about that book.  

7.  Magic

Libraries are magical, just like bookstores, and books in general.  I suggest checking out your local library and getting a glimpse at all the awesomeness hidden inside, because they really are some of the happiest places on Earth, right up there with Disney World and Hogwarts.   

The Heir by Kiera Cass

Publication Date:  May 5, 2015

Publisher:  HarperTeen

Series:  The Selection #4  

Pages:  342

Genre:  Dystopian

Synopsis:  Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I have Yet to Finish

Here's a secret:  I am alarmingly bad at finishing series.  I am physically unable to marathon series and often require months between installments.  Here is a list exposing my shameful lack of discipline.  There's just an overabundance of new, shiny books that are brimming with endless possibilities.

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Publication Date:

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster

Series:  Stand Alone

Pages:  449

Genre:  Contemporary

Synopsis:  It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?

Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a stranger? Um... 

Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go skinny-dipping? Wait...what?

Recap: August 2015!

August was going great...until school started.  Now I am in my sophomore year of high school and am not too happy with the amount of time school steals from my reading and blogging.  But we must keep on swimming, huh?  Well, said Dory, at least.   

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Characters I Just Didn't Click With

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.  This Tuesday, I am tasked with listing ten book characters that I just didn't click with.  Some of these are probably expected, and others, not so much.  But I will never, ever despise someone as much as Dolores Umbridge.