Fantastic Fantasy Novels

1. Traditional Fantasy in a New YA World

If you are like me, sometimes you really want to read a novel with the traditional mythology for fairies, and werewolves, and vampires, but with that great young adult feel to it. Luckily for us Cassandra Clare has mastered this with the Shadowhunter Chronicles. Lord of Shadows truly encompasses this feeling especially with fairies delving the reader into the politics of the Unseelie and Seelie courts. Added bonus for series lovers, the Shadowhunter chronicles has eleven books out so far not counting short story collections and the numerous other books still being written! So buckle up fantasy lovers and prepare for the most fantastical ride of your life!
Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
My rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

Cassandra Clare has outdone herself yet again! Full of daemons, magic, fairies, shadowhunters, and of course romance, readers are sent on an emotional roller coaster by Clare's fantastic writing. Taking place directly after the events of Lady Midnight, Julian and Emma must face their future as life at the LA institute changes dramatically. With a new addition to the household, a new relationship, and a group of centurions inviting themselves over, the Blackthorn family has a lot to deal with, and will take readers on an adventure that will keep them guessing until the last page. Clare's ability to juggle so many characters while still giving them each their own emotional journeys makes this book and all her writing a must read. Lovers of Clare's other books will be pleased to see the appearances of beloved characters from her other novels and will be intrigued by how they play into the foreshadowing for this book and the rest of the series. Lord of Shadows is perfect for all YA fans especially fantasy and romance fanatics! I highly recommend this book and all other books in the Shadowhunter Chronicles.
(Haven't read the other books in this series yet? No problem! Just check out my spoiler free reviews tab to find my review of Lady Midnight)
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Reading in the Bathtub versus Reading in the Shower

Do you guys ever just have this feeling hit you where you have the intense desire to just take a nice long hot bath and read a good book? I know I get this feeling all the time, but as busy as I am I never seem to have the time to take a bath. So where does that leave me? With taking a shower, which you of course can not read in, or so I thought! After watching a video by the wonderful youtuber polandbananasbooks I realized that it is possible to read in the shower besides listening to really faint audio books. If you are really careful, have a towel nearby and don't try anything stupid you can read regular book in the shower! I actually started doing this for a while and I only almost destroyed a book once. Of course I stopped this after I got a waterproof phone case because I would read on that and my paperbacks would stay safe. I definitely prefer reading on my phone in the shower to reading an actual book, because it saves me from a lot of stress. I guess the real question is which is better, reading in the bath or reading in the shower? In my high and mighty opinion, reading in the bath is better than reading in the shower just because its easier, but reading in the shower definitely works in a pinch! I encourage you all to try both and form your own opinion! Tell me what you think, and happy reading! -Becca  

Non-Fiction for the Non-Fiction Hater

Do people ever assume that just because you like to read and you read often then you must like all different kinds of books? This seems to happen to me a lot especially with non-fiction. I have never liked non-fiction which has caused me plenty of trouble with teachers who expect me to be just as eager to read a brief guide to American History as I am to read Ender's Game. While I do avoid non-fiction like the plague there have been times when I am forced to waltz into my school library's shabby, outdated non-fiction section and try not to grimace too much as I muscle my way though a book that takes me four times as long to read as a fiction novel. In these torturous moments I have stumbled upon some truly fantastic writing that even I am able to love. So if you are trying to survive the dreaded non-fiction unit in your English class here are my favorite non-fiction novels that will hopefully get the wheels in your brain moving.

1. Hilarious Memoir that Feels like YA

I am a YA addict. I know the first step to overcoming it is admitting it so hopefully that will help me make some progress. But what do we do when we only want to read YA but we have to read some non-fiction? We pick up Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, because the book takes place when the author is in 8th grade so the book feels like a YA coming of age novel. Jammed packed with comedy and wonderful little tidbits of advice this book is perfect for when you want to look impressive but you really just want to pick up a humorous YA coming of age story. 

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen
My rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

Readers will find themselves laughing so hard they need to run to the bathroom in the witty and honest memoir by Maya Van Wagenen that is Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek. Maya is an eighth grade outcast at her extremely poor middle school in southern Texas. With only one friend her family moving at the end of the year would go seemingly unnoticed until Maya finds Betty Cornell's guide to popularity from the 1950's. Written in diary format as Maya shares her attempt at popularity and her commentary as she tries everything from dieting to girdles readers are pulled through a whirlwind year of using age old tricks to break down modern stereotypes. As a self proclaimed nerd, this book really resonated with me in a lot of ways. The breaking down of social stereotypes in this book was wonderful and something I can relate too as someone who is very nerdy yet still has the confidence to walk up to a complete stranger and introduce myself to them. The humor in this book was fantastic and very honest and one of the main reasons I loved it so much. The fact that this novel took place when the author was in 8th grade made this book feel less like a memoir and more like a young adult novel and I think this really contributed to my ability to enjoy this book. Overall I would highly recommend this book for middle school and high school age readers because the struggles the author faces will resonate with them.
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My New and Improved Blog!

Quick Update 

Hello my amazing readers! I know I have been gone for awhile, but it is only because I have been super busy with school, reading for my school's battle of the books, and debate. But seeing as that battle of the books and my final debate competition are approaching quickly I am able to get this blog up and running again! A few things will be changing though because I myself have changed as a person. My book reviews are going to written differently, before they were more like book reports and instead I want to change them to more my opinions on the books. I will be doing some blog posts that are just general opinion pieces and writing about my life, mainly about what is going on with my reading life. I hope to post more frequently, but because of this many of my posts will be shorter. I am going to branching out and writing some reviews on some classics and some more challenging reads. I also need to get the message out to all of the authors that contacted me previously about reviewing your books my computer freaked out and deleted my emails containing the PDF formats of your books as well as the notes and drafts of the reviews for your books so I need you all to please contact me again so that we can work this out because I would still love to review your books! Well that just about wraps everything up so happy reading!

-Becca