Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Would Reread!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week's top ten list is 10 books I'd like to reread. I also wrote some mini (kind of) reviews!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This book was such a cutesy read with a bit of teenage angst thrown in. Throw in a British boy from America in Paris and you've got the perfect guy, right? Right.

Reading this story also heightened my want to go to Paris and, as I type this, I am waiting for my passport to arrive so I can be on my merry way to au pair for a year or so in FRANCE. Dream come true? Maybe. YES.

So this book is one of my all-time favourites. I'm currently reading Isla and the Happily Ever After  and I'm sad that the series is coming to an end but I'm excited to see how this all rounds off.

Compulsion by Martina Boone

This is a new found favourite of mine having finished barely two days ago. I still have the warm and fuzzies over this one and I cannot recommend it enough. I'm sure all of my Twitter followers are sick to death of me fangirling on and on about Compulsion.  Sorry guys.

Eight and Barrie have a lovely romance going and it just gets sweeter the further you get to the end. He's pretty much perfect. Good looking, intelligent, knows what people want and incredibly kind. That just does not  happen in the real world. You don't get all of those things in one guy unfortunately. That's why I think I'll stick to fictional guys.

Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This is a spin-off novel from JLA's Lux series. It's meant for a more mature audience where the Lux books are fairly mild in terms of violence and sexual situations.

I really enjoyed this one though. I was entirely intrigued by the Arum and seeing things from their point of view was eye opening! There was one or two crossover scenes between Obsession  and Origin  which was awesome and very well done.

P.S. It can't only be me who thinks the male model looks a helluva lot like Scott from Teen Wolf... Right? 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Ah this book! This was the one that started my JLA obsession and now I pretty much consume anything that she writes. This will always be my favourite book of hers though.

Daemon is utterly infuriating and oh-my-goodness hot. LOOK AT HIM. (The cover model is Pepe Toth in case you were wondering). The banter between him and Katy is hilarious. I am pretty much Katy. Everything that she says is what I would say if I were put in a similar situation. We'd be great friends, I'm sure of it.

I know some people are put off this book because it's about aliens but please give it a try! I was the same and ended up truly loving this series. The characters (even the creepy ones *you Lux fans know who I'm talking about*) make the story that much more wonderful!

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

"Oh god, it's about mermaids."
This was my first thought when reading the synopsis. I originally bought this book because of the pretty cover. I have no shame. It is no secret now that I love love love  underwater covers. I'm pretty sure I mention this in every post. Yeah so I bought it for it's cover but I stayed for the content and the characters.

The female protagonist is strong willed and does not want to let boys do all of the ass kicking. I think everyone should aspire to be a little more like Emma.

It's been a while since I read this book and I am in dire need of a reread so I can buy the next books. Great first book if I remember correctly!

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

This is another new found favourite of mine. I recently read this one and am dying to get my hands on the sequel. It's not out yet unfortunately and I'm not sure it even has a set release date. *Boooooo*

Anyways, this is a brilliant novel about some pretty weird stuff. It's about a world where keeping humans as pets is okay. Like it's natural for wealthy families to get 'pets'. Creepy, I know, but give it a chance! It's a very well written book with characters that leap off the page and into your heart with the things they do for other each other. Ella and Penn especially.

Oh and isn't the cover lovely? It's elegant whilst still holding some sort of underlying meaning with the cage surrounding such a pretty object.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I don't think I'm over this book yet and it's been a while. I am still trying to get my grabby little hands on Unravel Me and Ignite Me - I really want to see why everyone is suddenly Team Warner. He seemed a little unstable in Shatter Me... I did feel sorry for him though.

This book is really well written. I remember thinking 'what took me so long?!' when I read the first few chapters. The writing is so beautiful and it's kind of hard to describe. The author explains everything that's happening but we also get an insight into the deepest parts of Juliette's mind. It's written sort of like a journal I guess, with all of the crossing outs and repeated words.

PLUS THIS SERIES HAS THE PRETTIEST COVERS EVER.

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Yet another  new found favourite. I read this one maybe two weeks ago and the story really is beautiful and tragic. Tragically beautiful is the perfect term. Wherever there's darkness in the lives of Will and Lake there's also light weaving it's way through in the form of each other's growing affection.

I hope book 2 is just as good - this first book will stick with me I'm sure of it. It also gave me something new to love; slam poetry! I youtubed it whilst halfway through this book and ended up sitting in the same spot for maybe 2 hours just clicking on people reciting poetry that was so gripping and emotionally charged that I just could not look away, could not listen. So thank you Colleen for helping me find this and for writing such lovely books!

So Much To Learn by Jessie L. Star

I read this one a while back and I would love to reread it. I don't remember too  much but what I do remember was the romance aspect of this book.

It's about a girl who asks her brother's best friend (?) to help her with guys and how to be with them as she has little to no experience but would like to gain some with someone she is comfortable with. From this blooms a wonderful romance that captivated me from Lesson 1.

Highly recommend! Actually... If anyone would like to buddy read this with me I'd be down for that! :)

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

A long-time favourite of mine! This was the first NA book I ever read and I adored it. I'd love to reread this when I finally get a physical copy.

Some say that Travis's behavior is abusive and this bothers me a little. Whilst he does have violent tendencies he never hurts Abby.  The only way he 'hurts' her is when he does something stupid and backtracks his progress to being a better person. He WANTS to be better for her and he does try and in the end it really shows and makes the whole story that much sweeter. I'm not saying it's a fairytale romance because it's not at all but overall it's a very well written one. There's also enough drama to keep you going for a couple of months ;)

Travis is a fighter to pay for his house that he rents (owns?) with his best friend (Abby's best friend's boyfriend). He does do some absolutely idiotic things in the book but the amount of character development he goes through just to be better for Abby is incredible! The supporting characters are great too.

Highly recommend this one if you're looking to read more NA :)

So... What book would you reread if you could?

Top Ten Tuesday: Who Would Be Sitting At My Lunch Table?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week's topic is: Top ten characters that would have sat at my lunch table in high school.

1. Anna from Anna and the French Kiss. We definitely would be sitting at the same table. After reading that book (and currently re-reading it) I am adamant that we are alike and would have been fast friends. She's sweet, humble and may not make the best choices but she does things out of the kindness of her heart. Plus she definitely made me laugh in the book!

2. Daemon from the Lux  series. We'd get along for the one simple reason; we have the same sense of humor. We're both fluent in sarcasm... and sometimes we pass that thin line between being sarcastic and being an asshole. Plus, ya know, he's an alien. Not that I relate to that at all but he'd have some kickass stories so I'd make him join me.

3. Isabelle from The Mortal Instruments  series. My lunch table at school was pretty much all girls (guys tended to sit on a wall all lunch break *rolls eyes*) and all of us were different. I mean we had some of the same interests but we all had different personalities and experiences etcetc. I definitely think Isabelle would be welcome at our table! Her need-no-man attitude is perfect and something I wish every girl had. We all need a little bit of Isabelle Lightwood's personality plus she'd also have amazing stories with her being a Shadowhunter and all.

4. Emma from The Syrena Legacy books. I'd want her at my table for the same reasons as I stated above; Emma never asked Galen to fight for her and she was strong and brave and totally awesome. She's also a great friend and totally loyal, me and her would get along easily.

5. Travis from Beautiful Disaster. Maybe not for high school because he's a little older than that if I remember correctly but he'd definitely spice up the atmosphere huh? Plus he's bad-boy-hot so... win-win.

6. Blair from the Gossip Girl  series. I mean I'd love to summer in the Hamptons plus she's Queen B! I hated her in the beginning but she definitely grew on me and I think we'd get along very well.

7. Claire from The Morganville Vampires  series. I love reading about her in those books because she seems so like me in ways I can't properly explain. She's extremely loyal and I value that in any friendship plus we kinda like the same things... like drinking teeth-rotting amounts of diet coke.

8. Stiles from Teen Wolf. (Yes it's actually a book!) I just love Stiles, have since the first season. He's awkward and adorable and super attractive (in the last couple of seasons especially) and I think we would get along easy-peasy. I laugh at all his supposedly awful jokes and attempts to lighten the mood, I think he'd make the entire table a happier environment!

9. Lydia from Teen Wolf. (Again) Lydia is just an awesome person. That's all the explanation you need really.

10. Patch from the Hush Hush  series. Honestly? I just picked him because he's a hot fallen angel (in the first book) and... well that's it. I'd make  him sit with us. I think he'd get along with Travis really well for some reason.

Authors Who Deserve More Recognition #4

I didn't even need to think about who the next author in this post-series would be. I was searching through Goodreads on my favourite author list and found Anna Banks's name. Now, Anna does have a pretty good amount of fans already and her series The Syrena Legacy has been circulating again in the book-blogging world due to the release of the third -and final (boohoo) book in said series. 

I hope nothing but the best for you, Anna! Your writing is fantastic, your characters are incredibly real (well... minus the whole being a fish thing) and I loved every second of Of Poseidon and I cannot wait to get my hands on the second and third in the series!!

Ooooh and after getting an email this morning Anna has finally been allowed to release some amazing news! Here it is:

"So I can finally tell you about NEMESIS, my upcoming YA Fantasy, since the deal was announced yesterday! I'm so excited to be working on this project with Feiwel and Friends! Ahhhh! I've wanted to tell you guys for a long time, but had to keep it under wraps which nearly KILLED me. So, here are the details:

Liz Szabla at Feiwel and Friends has acquired Nemesis, a YA fantasy by Anna Banks, in a two-book deal. In the story, a princess who possesses the power to create energy escapes her father, who wishes to weaponize it, only to be captured by another kingdom where she discovers that her powers could be used to fight a terrible plague. Publication is planned for spring 2016; Lucy Carson of the Friedrich Agency brokered the deal for world rights.

 I can't wait until you meet Sepora, the Serubelan princess and Tarik, the Theorian prince. I think you guys will fall in love with these new characters just as I have!"

Princes and princesses? Count me in!!! *Sees release date* *Dies a little inside*

For anyone who hasn't read any of Anna Banks's books you absolutely should! Here are all the links you'll need to check her out:

Website

Twitter

Goodreads

My review - Of Poseidon

About The Author

New York Times Bestselling author of The Syrena Legacy series. 

Grew up in a town called Niceville. No, seriously. I graduated from Niceville High School. So did J Lo's second husband. And the guy that plays Aqua Man on Smallville dated my best friend. 

Now I indulge my tendency to lie by writing the lies down and selling them to publishers. Well actually my agent sells it, so she's an accomplice to lies. One of my lies is called OF POSEIDON. The sequel is called OF TRITON. The last and final installment is OF NEPTUNE, and it released May 13, 2014. 

And um. I also write adult fiction under pen name Anna Scarlett. One of the adult lies is DEGREES OF WRONG.

That is all.

Book Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Format: Paperback
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen—literally, ouch!—both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom...

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

The cover is what made me want to read this book, I mean look at it. It's so pretty! I love how hair looks underwater... Is that weird? Anyway, I came for the cover but I stayed for the writing and the story.

When I read the synopsis I knew this would be a tail never told (bahaha get it? Tail? 'Cause fish? *coughes awkwardly*) Yeah... bad puns aside I really liked the change of story. I, for one, have never read a book about a girl who can talk to fish and survive a shark attack WHICH BY THE WAY happened so super soon in the book. Like 30 pages in and there was already enough drama to fill an entire novel which I loved! This book was so different, even the characters were unique and just everything about Anna Banks's writing sucked me in and kept me from putting down the book for too long. Her story-telling was fast paced with just enough mystery and action to keep me hooked... *snorts with laughter* The story flew by for me and I think part of the reason was that there was always the whole mystery about who Emma was and I just needed to know, stat! As for the romance aspect of the story, I liked that the tension was dragged out until closer to the end. A lot of romance in books happens pretty early on but I love it when I have to wait for the inevitable kiss. It makes the whole thing seem more... special? I can't think of a better word right now.

The characters ohmygoodness the characters. I loved pretty much every single one of them. Emma kicked ass when she needed to and didn't rely on Galen to fight for her which was refreshing but the one thing I loved the most about Emma was that she was actually concerned about becoming 'that girl' the one who drops everything to be with a guy, the girl a lot of the main characters tend to become in romance novels. She does succumb to Galen and his many charms but who wouldn't? Let's put the whole fish-man-who-can-sprout-a-tail thing aside and focus on the fact that Galen was the perfect guy. He was charming, loyal to those who deserved it and compassionate and I really liked how he came to life throughout the book. He was also totally unaware of the human world, our mannerisms and saying etcetc and it was bloody adorable! The other on-land Syrenas were the same, Rayna and Toraf. My favourite scene was when Toraf met Galen in England and he thought Galen had called it 'Egg-land' and I had tears of laughter because no one told him he was wrong. God that was cute. Toraf was my favourite character in this book because of the things I mentioned above and I loved reading his speech, he was so unaware of everything and confused when Rayna said she didn't want to be mated to him even though he knew she did. He didn't even know what 'playing hard-to-get' meant, ugh, he was just a lovely character.
Another thing I enjoyed about these characters was the continuous banter throughout the entire novel. No one likes a completely serious book, it was nice to take a break from the mystery to watch Emma, Galen, Toraf and Rayna's relationships form and change. Especially Rayna and Toraf, they were always funny to read about even when they were being totally serious!

Anna Banks managed to create an entire new world complete with its own tradition, concepts and even their own laws. It always amazes me when an author does this, how can they pull something like that from their heads? I loved the Syrena world, I kinda wanna live there. Minus the whole having to bind my legs together and grow a fish tail...

In a lot of books there is one storyline that the author follows from beginning to end, the next thing I liked about this book was that there was a story within the story. There was Emma and the mystery of who she was and what she was but then underwater there was also something else going on at the same time; a war on the cusp of breaking out. It gave more depth to the book and I enjoyed jumping back and forth between the two entwined storylines.

The ending wasn't enough to send me into a week-long book coma whilst I waited for the second one to arrive but it did make me want to actually buy the second book!
I thought I'd be left with a bunch of my questions unanswered, as I've experienced before, but everything (mostly) was wrapped up and tied with a glittery red bow. And thank god! I don't think my health can take another cliffhanger so soon.

Now for the only con this book held; the fact that, sometimes, Emma could be so damn blind. Maybe a better word would be naive... nonetheless it was slightly infuriating. Then again, she made up for it with her witty banter and sarcasm so all was fine.

In conclusion, you should definitely give this book I try. I recommend it to all ages, the content it pretty much clean! Tell me if you've read it in the comments below, I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks:)