JUNE ROUNDUP (aka the reading slump month)

Hello,

June was a pretty disappointing reading month for me. I was only able to read TWO books: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard && Golden Son by Pierce Brown. I tried reading Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige and Mosquitoland by David Arnold but ended up holding them off. It took me a week each to finally give up! Ugh.

{ BOOK REVIEWS }

REVIEW | The Masterpiecers

Series: Masterful #1
Author:
 Olivia Wildenstein
Genre:
 young adult, contemporary, mystery, romance
Publish:
 April 15, 2016
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Nineteen-year-old Ivy Redd’s talent with a needle and thread has earned her a spot on a coveted reality TV art competition set in New York’s Metropolitan Museum. The prize: a significant amount of money and instant acceptance into the Masterpiecers, the school that ensures new artists fame and fortune. Her talent has also thrust her and her twin sister, Aster, into the spotlight.  
Not that Aster needed help with becoming a media favorite. She managed that on her own by running over a wanted mobster. She told the police it was self-defense, because she couldn’t tell them the truth—the truth would make her sister look bad. 
Locked in an Indiana jail to await her trial, Aster watches Ivy on the small TV hanging in the dayroom. It’s the highlight of her day, until she finds out what her sister truly thinks of her. Then, observing her sister becomes a punishment far crueler than imprisonment.

JUNE BOOK HAUL (aka the successful book buying ban haul)

only book i got. won not bought!
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Hello,

I.am.so.proud.of.myself.

I didn't brought out a single cent for a book this month. Can you believe that? Well believe it because it did happen. The only physical book I got this month is The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi. It's now on my tbr shelf. If you want me to read this book for the read-a-thon this July, vote here. I'm excited for this book I keep on setting it aside though. Anyway, the following ebooks below were bought using my remaining GCs, received from a giveaway, and author newsletter subscriptions :)

READATHON | Make Me Read It Readathon

hosted by The Innocent Smiley && Tea & Titles
Hello,

So I saw this readathon just yesterday and got interested. It's hosted by Val @ The Innocent Smiley and Ely @ Tea & Titles.  Basically it's a readathon that allows you guys to pick the books for me. I know I'm a bit of a moody reader and at times, I want to kind of force myself to finally read a book that's been siting in my bookshelf or ereader. This is my chance. Here's more information about the readathon:

{ Make Me Read It Readathon }
Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you've borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I'd pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten. 
Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read. 
When the readathon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there's a tie, then it's your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible.

REVIEW | Gifted

Series: The Hayven #1
Author:
 J.A. George
Genre:
 young adult, contemporary, fantasy, romance
Publish:
 April 13, 2016 (first published May 10, 2015)
Purchase: Amazon

There is no chosen one in this story. 
Avery Gray was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and happened to make a decision that altered her future forever. It happens to us every day.
Avery is a size twelve university student with a penchant for dry humour, and she's as normal as they come. One rainy afternoon, Avery had to make a choice: go through the alleyway or around it. Two possible options. One would have had her future continue on as planned., the other would ensure that her future never remained the same again. She unknowingly went with the latter. 
Change can be good. It can bring new opportunities, new friends and a life you never thought possible. Change can be bad. It can bring you people determined to burn your city to the ground. 
It all depends on the decisions you make.

BLOG TOUR | Unplugged

full tour schedule can be found at: The Fantastic Flying Book Club
Series: The Wired #1
Author:
 Donna Freitas
Genre:
 young adult, science fiction, dystopia
Published: June 21, 2016
Publisher: Harper Children's
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | iTunesKobo

The first book in a provocative new series from acclaimed author Donna Freitas—Feed for a new generation. 
Humanity is split into the App World and the Real World—an extravagant virtual world for the wealthy and a dying physical world for the poor. Years ago, Skylar Cruz’s family sent her to the App World for a chance at a better life. 
Now Skye is a nobody, a virtual sixteen-year-old girl without any glamorous effects or expensive downloads to make her stand out in the App World. Yet none of that matters to Skye. All she wants is a chance to unplug and see her mother and sister again. 
But when the borders between worlds suddenly close, Skye loses that chance. Desperate to reach her family, Skye risks everything to get back to the physical world. Once she arrives, however, she discovers a much larger, darker reality than the one she remembers. 
In the tradition of M. T. Anderson’s Feed and Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, Unplugged kicks off a thrilling and timely sci-fi series for teens from an award-winning writer.

WEEKEND READS | Mosquitoland + Gifted

turns out I don't have a photo of my current read (which sucks, bytheway. it shows how much i don't care about it).
Hello,

I've had a productive week. I'm so glad that I was able to go schedule my reviews, reply to some comments, and drop by some blogs. So basically, I acquainted myself to more books which sucks 'cause I placed myself in a one month ban (which is the good news because I haven't bough a single book since the month began.. well since Dead Wake anyway).
Unplugged (The Wired #1) | Donna Freitas
I LOVE the concept of this book, its world, the conflict of the world, and the twists! Oh gosh, this book and great! Review will be up Monday 8AM EST for a Blog Tour :)

REVIEW | The Fate

Series: Children of Wisdom #1
Author:
 Stephanie Erickson
Genre:
 contemporary, mythology,
Published: November 22, 2015
Publisher: Pickle Press
Purchase: Amazon

The thread of life is a delicate thing. It is so easily broken…  
My name is Penn, and I’m a spinner. As one of the three Fates, it’s easy for me to know the plans for the lives of the humans. Mine, on the other hand, is a bit foggier. I guess things started to get out of control when I spun her—Kismet. My focus shifted, one thing led to another, and I wound up banished to Earth.  
You’d think it’d be pretty hard to surprise me, but after my banishment, they just kept hitting me like a one-two knockout punch. When the people around me started dying before their time, I knew something was very wrong and I had to do whatever I could to set it right. The one thing I didn’t know was…what is the true fate of a Fate?

REVIEW | Play Dead

Series: D.I. Kim Stone #4
Author:
 Angela Marsons
Genre:
 adult, crime fiction, mystery, thriller
Publish:
 May 20, 2016
Publisher: Bookouture
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

The dead don’t tell secrets… unless you listen.
The girl’s smashed-in face stared unseeing up to the blue sky, soil spilling out of her mouth. A hundred flies hovered above the bloodied mess.  
Westerley research facility is not for the faint-hearted. A ‘body farm’ investigating human decomposition, its inhabitants are corpses in various states of decay. But when Detective Kim Stone and her team discover the fresh body of a young woman, it seems a killer has discovered the perfect cover to bury their crime.  
Then a second girl is attacked and left for dead, her body drugged and mouth filled with soil. It’s clear to Stone and the team that a serial killer is at work – but just how many bodies will they uncover? And who is next?  
As local reporter, Tracy Frost, disappears, the stakes are raised. The past seems to hold the key to the killer’s secrets – but can Kim uncover the truth before a twisted, damaged mind claims another victim …?  
The latest utterly addictive thriller from the No.1 bestseller Angela Marsons. 

TOP TEN TUESDAY | Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2016

my books having are having a party.
Hello,

I don't always participate in Top Ten Tuesday but I decided to give this week ago since I'm super, super, super excited for these books (although these are not ten :P). I don't check out upcoming releases a lot and I think it's fine. It's stops me from dying every single minute of every day wishing to get a copy of a sequel of what. You know all I want is to secure the book in my shelf. Make sure I have it anytime I'm ready to read it.

Anyway, if you guys know any book I might enjoy, feel free to live them in the comments section and I'll be sure to check them out and add them to my wish list :D

REVIEW | The Manifesto on How to be Interesting

Series: N/A
Author:
 Holly Bourne
Genre:
 young adult, contemporary, realistic fiction, romance
Published: August 1, 2014
Publisher: Usborne Publishing
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Apparently I'm boring. A nobody. But that's all about to change. Because I am starting a project. here. Now. For myself. And if you want to come along for the ride then you're very welcome.
Bree is by no means popular. Most of the time, she hates her life, her school, her never-there parents. So she writes. 
But when Bree is told she needs to stop shutting the world out and start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is born. A manifesto that will change everything... 
...but the question is at what cost?

WEEKEND READS | Glass Sword + Unplugged

my suckish attempt at the #flipthatbook tag. check out my instagram: @czai_
Hello,

Sorry I've been lazing around. I really intended to post a couple more reviews this past week but I ended up not finalizing them. I'll have them up by this week. I'm sorry I also haven't been replying to comments and commenting back. I will that. I'm just... well... busy lazing around. I will drop by your blogs, friends. Just you wait. Definitely this week.

Thanks to every one's comments on my last weekend reads, I hold off Dorothy Must Die and picked up Glass Sword. I still have a few more pages to read but I ended up liking it :) Now here's my dillema for the week: I'm think of (finally) starting Game of Thrones. I had it in like a year already but I still haven't pick it up yet. Heck, I've never added it on my monthly TBR. What do you guys think? Can you give me your opinions about the book? I don't watch TV series so catching up on it is not an option (lol).
Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone #4) | Angela Marsons
Admittedly, I liked Lost Girls more. BUT that doesn't mean this isn't good. It's still thrilling, intriguing. and Marsons pulled out another twist I didn't see coming. The twist is its biggest point for me && how she connected two cases. Review will be up soon!

REVIEW | The Writer

Series: San Juan Islands Mystery #1
Author:
 D.W. Ulsterman
Genre:
 adult, mystery, thriller
Publish:
 June 2, 2016
Publisher: Kindle Press
Purchase: Amazon

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." 
-Oscar Wilde 
College journalist Adele Plank has been granted a rare interview with one-time bestselling author, Decklan Stone. He is a man largely withdrawn from the world following the tragic death of his young wife twenty-seven years earlier. Adele ventures to the writer's remote, private-island home in the beautiful San Juan Islands, and there begins a journey of dangerous discovery that will have her scrambling to unravel a mystery far more shocking and deadly than she could have ever imagined. 
"RIVETING!"

WEEKEND READS | Dorothy Must Die or Glass Sword?

to hold off or to continue?
Hello,

I' not sure if I'm in a slump (but I'm guessing I'm not) or Dorothy Must Die is just not working with me. I know many of you, friends, liked it. Loved it, even. But me? Maybe I'm really just a black sheep. I really, really like this to work with me though because I LOVE the covers of the series (lol!) so I'll still read it. But I'll include another book to my current-reads :)

Why I picked up Glass Sword is just me being random. I thought that it's been staring at me from my shelf for far too long. And it's dystopian. I know it was received poorly but I have my book now so why not read it, right?
The Writer (San Juan Mysteries #1) | D.W. Ulsterman
I finished reading The Writer the other day and I thought that it was more of an 'okay' read. I wasn't completely intrigued by the mystery but it was interestig enough to keep me entertained until the end. The climax was truly thrilling. Review to come!
The White Cottage Mystery | Margery Allingham
Another Golden Age Mystery author added to my list! Now I'm really more interested to dig up this glorious moment in Mystery Novels. I'm going to read more of Margery Allingham. Read my review here!

Summer 2016 Review Train | Vanishing Girls

full review train stops can be found at Space Between the Spines
Hello,

Welcome to my Summer 2016 Review Train stop hosted by Brittany from Space Between the Spines. I hope you guys dropped by and read the reviews for the previous stops: The Unexpected Everything @ Ready, Set, Read, Future Shock @ Always Me, The Summer I Turned Pretty @ Blue Eye Books, and Even If the Sky Falls @ Tsundoku Books.

Series: N/A
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre: young adult, contemporary, mystery, thriller
Published:
 March 10, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
Purchase: Amazon | B&NBook Depository

New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story perfect for fans of We Were Liars and I Was Here, about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident. 
Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. 
When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late. 
In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.

REVIEW | The White Cottage Mystery

Series: N/A
Author:
 Margery Allingham
Genre:
 adult, mystery
Publish:
 June 2, 2016 (first published in 1927)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Classic Crime from the Golden Age. Margery Allingham is J.K. Rowling's favourite Golden Age author. 
Eric Crowther collected secrets and used them as weapons. Delighting in nothing more than torturing those around him with what he knew, there is no shortage of suspects when he is found dead in the White Cottage. Chief Inspector Challenor and his son Jerry will have to look deep into everyone's past – including the victim's – before they can be sure who has pulled the trigger. The fact that Jerry is in love with one of the suspects, however, might complicate things.  
The White Cottage Mystery was Margery Allingham’s first detective story, originally written as a serial for the Daily Express in 1927 and published as a book a year later.
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