[TOP TEN TUESDAY] Books I've Read So Far in 2015

This Week's Topic: Books I've Read So Far in 2015.

I think that 2015 has been good to me. My current goodreads goal is 70 books and I've read 46 books so far. Goodreads tells me that I'm 12 books ahead of my schedule. YAY! My vacation really did that. HAHAHA. I've read really great books so far and have only come across two or three or four or five (LOL) books that disappointed me or I plainly didn't like at all.

SOOOOO here're ten books I gloriously fell in love with so far this year (not in any particular order).

SUGAR by Deirdre Riordan Hall. Review Here. Really wonderful book. Slow yet great development. Made me cry so hard. so bloodydamn hard!
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Made me want to read more books by Agatha Christie. This is truly a gripping psychological mystery.
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han. Review Here. Really cute romance!! MY OTP RIGHT HERE!!!!!
Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang. Review Here. This book was compared to Before I Fall and Thirteen Reasons Why and I HATE THAT! It really made me love this book lesser. But either way, I still enjoy this!! Lovely storytelling.
Golden Son by Pierce Brown. Review Here. One of the books I was really looking forward to this year and it did not disappoint. Must. Read. Morning. Star. NOW!

JUNE BOOKHAUL

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie | Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge | The Ring & The Crown by Melissa De La Cruz (audiobook) | Contamination Boxed Set by T.W. Piperbrook | Last Train Home by Megan Nugen Isbell | Murder in the South of France by Susan Kiernan-Lewis | The Blemished by Sarah Dalton | Whispers in the Autumn by Trisha Leigh | In Between by Jenny B. Jones | The Woodlands by Lauren Nicolle Taylor | Clockwise by Elle Strauss | The Starborn Uprising by Jason D. Morrow | From the Wreckage by Michele G. Miller | The Cure by Stephanie Erickson | Bone Dry by Candy Vance | Unseen by Stephanie Erickson | Smile Now, Cry Later by Paul MacDonald | The Unearthly by Laura Thalassa | Dark Promise by Julia Crane | The Living by Matt dela Pena | The Wasteland Chronicles by Kyle West | Pawn by Ernie Lindsey | Past Dark by Tony Healey | Entangled by Nikki Jefford

[KINDLE KANDY] scifi-dystopian and mystery-thriller!!

Kindle Kandy is a weekly post hosted at The Book Dame where "We scan our shelves and ereaders to rediscover books that we own but have not read," 

Series: Divergent #3
Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: young adult, science fiction, romance, post apocalyptic

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered - fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories. 

But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningliess. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend to complexities of human nature - and of herself - while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love. 

Told from a riveting dual perspective, ALLEGIANT, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the DIVERGENT series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in DIVERGENT and INSURGENT.

[REVIEW] Sugar

Series: N/A
Author: Deirdre Riordan Hall
Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
Published: June 1, 2015
Publisher: Skyscape
Purchase: Amazon

I’m the fat Puerto Rican–Polish girl who doesn’t feel like she belongs in her skin, or anywhere else for that matter. I’ve always been too much and yet not enough.

Sugar Legowski-Gracia wasn’t always fat, but fat is what she is now at age seventeen. Not as fat as her mama, who is so big she hasn’t gotten out of bed in months. Not as heavy as her brother, Skunk, who has more meanness in him than fat, which is saying something. But she’s large enough to be the object of ridicule wherever she is: at the grocery store, walking down the street, at school. Sugar’s life is dictated by taking care of Mama in their run-down home—cooking, shopping, and, well, eating. A lot of eating, which Sugar hates as much as she loves.

When Sugar meets Even (not Evan—his nearly illiterate father misspelled his name on the birth certificate), she has the new experience of someone seeing her and not her body. As their unlikely friendship builds, Sugar allows herself to think about the future for the first time, a future not weighed down by her body or her mother.

Soon Sugar will have to decide whether to become the girl that Even helps her see within herself or to sink into the darkness of the skin-deep role her family and her life have created for her.

[REVIEW] You Can't Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet

full tour schedule can be found at CBB Book Promotions

Series: the Study Club Mysteries #1
Author: Juliette Harper
Genre: adult, contemporary, mystery, cozy mystery
Published: May 17, 2015
Publisher: Skye House Publishing
Purchase: Amazon

Wanda Jean Milton discovers her husband, local exterminator Hilton Milton, dead on her new shag carpet with an Old Hickory carving knife sticking out of his chest. Beside herself over how she’ll remove the stain, and grief-stricken over Hilton’s demise, Wanda Jean finds herself the prime suspect in the case. But she is also a member of “the” local Study Club, a bastion of independent Texas feminism 1960s style. Club President Clara Wyler has no intention of allowing a member to be a murder suspect during her administration. Aided by her younger sister and County Clerk, Mae Ella Gormley; Sugar Watson, the proprietress of Sugar’s Style and Spray; and Wilma Schneider, Army MASH veteran and local RN, the Club women set out to clear Wanda Jean’s name — never guessing the local dirt they’ll uncover in the process.

[WEEKLY MUSING] my undeniable relationship with mysteries

Hello, 

Last week, I posted that we're having a long weekend vacation. We went to a beach over at Zambales - Anawangin Cove. The place was great and very relaxing to look at. It was my one and only actual vacation this summer break and I think that it was totally worth it :)

book genres I bother with.
This past week, I actually had that moment of wondering about which books genres I really care about. I do know that I'm not fond of high fantasy since I didn't really enjoyed Shadow and Bone as well as The Young Elites. Please don't hate me. I do think that both books were really great. I was just not fangirling over those series. Well okay... I didn't really care about Shadow and Bone. Magics and shiz like that just don't attract me. But I'm still willing to try the genre :)
ANYWAY, as I ponder over the books I actually LOVE, I realized that aside from my typical YA reads: generally scifi-dystopian and contemporary-romance, I'm really inclined to reading mystery novels - could be YA mysteries, adult mystery-thriller, crime fiction (especially this!), police procedural/detective novels, and cozy mystery. Then I asked myself, WHY?

[REVIEW] The Cure

Series: N/A
Author: Stephanie Erickson
Genre: young adult, science fiction, dystopia, apocalyptic, 
Published: November 27, 2013
Purchase: Amazon

"One life will make the difference." Macey Holsinger has heard that promise for as long as she can remember. But it hasn't saved anyone yet, not even her little brother. 

Little is known about the disease, except that it's a rapid and absolute killer. Countless lives have been claimed in the last hundred years, and government scientists are working hard to stop the spread through human experimentation. Testing has killed nearly as many people as the disease and, to Macey at least, it seems like they're no closer to a cure. 

At sixteen, conformity to the government's idea of "sacrifice for the greater good" is a difficult concept for Macey. Shocked by how many aspects of life the disease controls, she faces her own testing reluctantly. 

Macey feels alone as questions plague her about things that are simply a way of life for most. Questions no one else thinks to ask. Why is the quest for a cure reason enough to ban things like flags and freedom of expression? How can death be justified with more death? In the end, how much will the cure cost, and why is Macey the only one who thinks the price is too high? 

Answers evade her until she's left with only one question... How much will she sacrifice in the name of the cure? 

[RELEASE EVENT] Langston's Ghost: Aftermath

Series: The Lockwood Legacy
Author: Juliette Harper
Genre: adult, mystery
Published: June 13, 2015
Publisher: Skye House Publishing
Purchase: Amazon

Langston Lockwood contemplates his suicide with great care, envisioning every possible outcome of his actions. He crafts a last will and testament designed to ensure that his iron-willed control over the lives of his daughters remains intact even from the grave. But he does not count on waking up in exactly the same spot where he died, or finding his own father waiting for him. In this first installment of The Lockwood Legacy Short Story series, Langston finds out the afterlife is not what he expected and that his own role in the events still unfolding on the Rocking L ranch is not over.

[REVIEW] Rumors

full tour schedule can be found at CBB Book Promotions

Series: the Rumors #1
Author: A.C. Arthur
Genre: adult, contemporary, mystery
Published: December 30, 2014
Publisher: Alloy Entertainment
Purchase: Amazon

Her death tore them apart. Will solving her murder bring them back together?  

Best friends Landy, Tenile, Nicole, Nathan, Justin, and Kareem were the golden children of Tanner University. Their paths were set: doctors, lawyers, business moguls, they were going to light the world on fire. Then, two weeks before graduation, Landy was murdered—and Nathan was blamed. Though he was never charged, vicious rumors drove him from town, and the circle of friends broke.  

Ten years later, Nathan is back in Tanner, determined to clear his name. He’s asking questions no one wants answered, and soon rumors threaten to divide the community once more. Everyone in this small town is keeping big secrets—especially Landy’s old friends—and someone is willing to kill to keep their darkest deeds buried. . . .  

This is a new edition of the previously self-published title Within The Shadows.

[TOP TEN TUESDAY] Summer 2015 TBR

This Week's Topic: Top Ten Books On My TBR For Summer 2015

I hate myself whenever I end up not following my set TBR list each month. The worse part is seeing the same books from last month's (and last-last month's) TBR to my new list. ugh. Then I'll tell myself, I'll surely read them this time around (I hope).

[REVIEW] Evil Games

Series: D.I. Kim Stone #2
Author: Angela Marsons
Genre: adult, mystery, thriller, crime fiction, suspense, contemporary
Published: May 29, 2015
Publisher: Bookouture
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

The greater the evil, the more deadly the game ... 

When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work. 

With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Kim soon finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment. 

Up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, for Detective Stone, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deeper than ever before to stop the killing. And this time - it’s personal. 

Fans of Rachel Abbott, Val McDermid and Mark Billingham will be gripped by this exceptional new voice in British crime fiction.

[WEEKLY MUSING] Rumors and Damsels in Distress

Hello, this week I went crazy on checking out and downloading free Kindle Ebooks in Amazon. I'll post everything on my monthly book haul post :) Along with this crazy thing I did, I unexpectedly bought a couple of books (I was actually looking for The Good Girls but I think it's still not available locally, ugh screw that!): And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. This photo can also be found on my instagram account: @czai_

I'm currently on a long weekend vacation with my family. This is a scheduled post which I wrote last June 11, Thursday (the night before we go). I hope you guys are having a great weekend! Photos for this vacation will be posted on my next weekly musing post :)

Rumors.
I finished reading Rumors this past week and I had mixed feelings towards it. It felt like I was reading some kind of adult version of The Perfectionist with a few rounds of sex scenes, whole lot of cheating, high-end characters, and a few more things. Review to be posted next week for a book tour :)
Damsels in Distress.
I stopped reading Cress for a while when I read Secret of the Sevens but when I picked it up again last Tuesday, I can't believe myself that I even stopped for a few days. It's really absorbing me and I bet that by the time you guys are reading this, I'm already done with it, hahaha. I really love Cress and how her adventure with Thorn went. Well of course it's very unfortunate but I'm enjoying the two of them more than Scarlet x Wolf.
I started listening to my audiobook of The Ring & The Crown. Somehow I'm enjoying it. The fact that it's an audiobook really added to my enjoyment. I love the reader. She makes me visualize the world, the place, their clothes, the things there are doing. I'm currently in part 2, chapter 7. Hopefully things will go well for me :)

{ LAST WEEK }

[REVIEW] The Secret Ingredient | [WAITING ON WEDNESDAY] The Rose Society | [REVIEW] Secret of the Sevens

{ THIS WEEK }

[REVIEW] Evil Games | [TOP TEN TUESDAY] My Summer TBR | [REVIEW] Rumors | [REVIEW] Death Parade

[REVIEW] Secret of the Sevens

full tour schedule can be found at YA Bound Book Tours

Series: N/A
Author: Lynn Lindquist
Genre: young adult, mystery, adventure, contemporary
Published: June 8, 2015
Publisher: Flux
Purchase: Amazon

Everyone at Singer, a boarding school for underprivileged kids, knows the urban legend of the Society of Seven. Decades ago, the original members of the secret guild for elite students murdered the school's founder and then perished in the fire they lit to hide the evidence. Or so the story goes. 

Talan Michaels doesn't care about Singer's past. He's too focused on his future and the fact that he'll be homeless after he graduates in May. To take his mind off it, he accepts a mysterious invitation to join a group calling itself the Sevens.  

He expects pranks, parties, and perks. Instead, he finds himself neck-deep in a conspiracy involving secret passages and cryptic riddles about the school's history. Even worse, he's now tangled in web of lies someone will kill to keep hidden.

“At the end of the day, it’s Talan and his endearing combination of bravado and vulnerability, coupled with the crackling chemistry he shares with Laney, that will keep readers turning the pages. A satisfying read for secret-society fanatics and romantics alike.” – Kirkus Reviews 

[WAITING ON WEDNESDAY] The Rose Society

Series: The Young Elites #2
Author: Marie Lu
Genre: young adult, fantasy, dystopia, 
Expected Publication: October 13, 2015

From New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu comes the second book in the exhilarating Young Elites series 

Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, and she destroyed them all. 

Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers that murdered her love, the Crown Prince Enzo Valenciano. 

But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good, when her very existence depends on darkness?

[REVIEW] The Secret Ingredient

Series: N/A
Author: Stewart Lewis
Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance, realistic fiction, chick lit, family, LGBT, coming of age
Published: June 10, 2014 (first published June 11, 2013)
Publisher: Ember

Olivia doesn't believe in psychics. But the summer before her senior year in high school, she meets one in an elevator.

This summer will be pivotal, the psychic warns. Please remember - all your choices are connected. 

Olivia loves her life in Silverlake, Los Angeles, but lately, something's been missing. And after getting this strange advice, her world begins to change. A new job leads her to a gorgeous, mysterious boy named Theo. And as Olivia cooks the recipes from a vintage cookbook she stumbles upon, she begins to wonder if the mother she's never known might be the secret ingredient she's been lacking. 

But sometimes the things we search for are the things we've had all along. 

[WEEKLY MUSING] Romance and Mysteries.

SO I wanted to start a weekly recap for my blog. I just want this to be the place where I share the things that I’m currently reading or books I unexpectedly get or the songs I’m listening to or anime I’m watching or whatever else out there :)

The Romance. This past week, I read P.S. Still Love You. I really, really, really, REALLY LOVE IT! I really wish that there’ll be more of Lara Jean and Peter K but it seem slike this is the end of the series. I’m just thinking of picking up the rest of Jenny Han’s books :) You can read my thoughts on P.S. I Still Love You right here.

The Mysteries! Also, I finally finished reading Angela Marsons’ Evil Games which I really enjoyed as compared to her first book. I think that this is more suspenseful than the first one, really interesting things going on. My review will be up next week :) Really hoping to get a chance to read the third book! I also recently finished The Secrets of the Sevens by Lynn Lindquist which will be release on June 8, tomorrow! :) I’m currently writing my review and it’ll be up on my blog on June 11 for the blog tour. Full tour schedule can be found at YA Bound.

[REVIEW] the 5th Wave

Series: The Fifth Wave #1
Author: Rick Yancey
Genre: young adult, science fiction, dystopia, aliens, post apocalyptic, fantasy, romance, adventure
Published: May 2013 (first published January 1, 2013)
Publisher: Penguin Group Inc.

After the 1st Wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. After the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th Wave, just one rule applies: TRUST NO ONE.

Now it's the dawn of the 5th Wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker, may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother - or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up. 

From award-winning author Rick Yancey comes a gripping epic of catastrophic loss, unthinkable odds, and unflinching courage.

[REVIEW] P.S. I Still Love You

Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2
Author: Jenny Han
Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance, realistic fiction, chick lit, 
Published: May 26, 2015
Publisher: Simon & Shuster

Lara Jean didn't expect to really fall for Peter.

They were just pretending. Until they weren't. And now Lara Jean has to learn what it's like to be in a real relationship and not just a make-believe one. 

But when another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean's feelings for him suddenly returns too. 

Can a girl be in love with two boys at once? 

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Lara Jean is about to find out that falling in love is the easy part. 

MAY ROUNDUP

Hello,

SO my Summer Classes finally ended (it ended a couple of weeks ago) and I'll be back in school on the last week of June. It's a pretty long vacation for me and I SHOULD really use it wisely.

{ BOOK REVIEWS }

The Merit Birds by Kelley Powell | Baxter's Draw by Juliette Harper | Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang | Alice's Portrait by Juliette Harper | A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray |  Dreamscape: Saving Alex by Kirstin Pulioff | Kickback by Damien Boyd | Such a Secret Place by Cortney Pearson

{ PROMOTIONAL POSTS }
+ giveaways

Lola Carlyle's 12-Step Romance by Danielle Younge-Ullman | Descendants of the Rose by Juliette Harper | Alice's Portrait by Juliette Harper | Tarnished by Kate Jarvik Birch | Dreamscape: Saving Alex by Kirstin Pulioff | Such a Secret Place by Cortney Pearson