Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light & Fun

Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light & Fun

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list  that bloggers are welcome to join in and answer. 

Hello there!

You know when sometimes the usual things you love to read suddenly feels like you've had too much of them, so you want to try out something more simple and still get to have as much fun. Once in a while, a good light read is something needed to break away from the accustomed reading preferences.

Here's my list:

FORGIVE MY FINS Tera Lynn Childs

THE AMARANTH ENCHANTMENT Julie Berry

STEEL by Carrie Vaughn

RADIANT DARKNESS by Emily Whitman

HEIST SOCIETY by Ally Carter

OF POSEIDON by Anna Banks

Top Ten Tuesday REWIND: Top Ten Books To Have In Your Beach Bag

Top Ten Books To Have In Your Beach Bag 

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list  that bloggers are welcome to join in and answer. 

Hello there! It's a rewind edition for this week's Top Ten Tuesday, and since it's summer vacation here in the Philippines, also that I'm going on beach trips in the coming weekends (I'll be in Batangas on the 21st, then a 3-day vacation on the 28th in... Boracay! Woohoo!) I decided to go for the "top ten books to have in your beach bag" topic. It's very apt, isn't it?

I've been accustomed to reading so much dark, brooding stories over the past few days that I thought beach trips would also be a good time to go for light kind of stories, so here are some suggestions that might help you relax but also get your dose of good reads.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Series I'd Like To Start But Haven't Yet

Top Ten Series I'd Like To Start But Haven't Yet

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list  that bloggers are welcome to join in and answer. 

Hello! How are you?

Today's Top Ten are the series you'd like to start on but still haven't done so yet. Now, normally the first on my list when it comes to this would be Harry Potter, but now that I finally read The Sorcerer's Stone (I'll start on the next one soon, I swear) I'm now in the safe zone for that one. Ha! *flips hair* No angry mob of non-muggles coming to get me. :D

So here's my list:

THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien

- Random Trivia: I've read somewhere that it's not exactly a trilogy but more of one book divided into 3 volumes. But what the heck, it's still on my list.

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by George R.R. Martin

- I refuse to watch the TV series because I want to badly read the books first. Although once I look at them, I kind of feel intimidated. I mean, have you seen how thick they are?

THE HEIR CHRONICLES by Cinda Williams Chima

- I have no idea why I still haven't picked this up yet. I also have been meaning to read her other series, Seven Realms.

THE DEMON TRAPPERS by Jana Oliver

- I've read the prequel novella, does that count as starting on this one? No? Darn!

THE INFERNAL DEVICES by Cassandra Clare

- I've actually "started" on Clockwork Prince. I just didn't continue on, I just felt like it wasn't the right time then. Maybe soon... I hope. 

Book Haul [16]

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My "Weekly Book Haul" is pretty much just like In My Mailbox by the Story Siren, This Week In Books by Pop Culture Junkie, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews and all the other titles with the similar concept here and there. This is a weekly post showcasing the books you received for the given week, either bought online or from a physical bookstore, borrowed from the library or from a friend, received for review or won from a giveaway, etc.

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Hello there! Let's go straight to this week's book haul:

HIDDEN by Sophie Jordan (Hardcover)
SWEET VENOM by Tera Lynn Childs (Paperback)
THE BEST OF ARCHIE COMICS, BOOK TWO by Various (Paperback)
ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins (Paperback)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite YA Fantasy Authors

Top Ten Favorite YA Fantasy Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list  that bloggers are welcome to join in and answer. 

Hello, fellow readers! This week's Top Ten is about your favorite authors from a specific genre. So I went for Fantasy, since that has always been the love of my life when it comes to books. 

So here's my list:

1. SHANNON HALE  
Shannon Hale is the author that introduced me to the YA genre. Even though she doesn’t know it, I owe her for the kind of love and passion that I have known and felt over all the books that I have read and will be reading in the future.   

2. JULIE KAGAWA
Who doesn’t love her? She’s awesome! Stories about the fare folk has always been something I love to read about, and the unique way she created the Iron Fey (for the Iron Fey series) was really commendable. Plus I love Ash, just saying. LOL.

Just For Fins by Tera Lynn Childs [REVIEW]

Just For Fins
(Fins #3)
by Tera Lynn Childs

 Summary from Goodreads:

"When Lily Sanderson decided to remain Crown Princess Waterlily of the mermaid kingdom Thalassinia, she knew she couldn’t just coast along in the current. But since she’s spent the last couple of years on land—with gorgeous human Quince by her side—Lily’s not sure she has the fins to lead a kingdom. Even her maddeningly pretentious cousin Dosinia seems to know more about ruling than she does.

But Lily has to dive in deep to keep her promise to Tellin, her mer bond in name only, whose kingdom is suffering in the changing ocean climate. Lily knows this is a seven seas–sized problem: from sea animals dying to oil spills and threats to humans. They’ll need to create some serious waves to make the mer community aware and get it to join together to make things right. Even if that means facing one of the iciest queens in the mer kingdoms.

Just when Lily thinks her double life on land and sea can’t get any more complicated, an ancient mer law might separate Lily and Quince after all. It feels as if the pair is up against a solid tsunami wave!

In this third installment in the series that began with Forgive My Fins and Fins Are Forever, Lily will have to find a way to balance safety and justice for the mer people as well as for the humans she loves."

Rating:

Just For Fins is the third instalment of the Fins series. Here we find our protagonist, Lily taking on her first action as crown princess of Thalassinia. But as she treks the path to fulfilling her duties to her kingdom, she realizes she lacks the knowledge of what goes on in the ocean realm. Spending so much time on land, she left herself clueless of the problems hers and other mer kingdoms are facing. Determined to do whatever it takes to help out her mer bond in name only, Tellin, she goes about her way trying to find the best solution to fix these problems. Unfortunately that’s not the only thing she’ll be worrying about. While struggling to balance both land and sea life, Lily discovers that there is an ancient mer law that Quince must prove himself worthy of the love of a mermaid royalty. He has to take tests and failing those means losing each other. *Sigh* Life couldn’t seem to give Princess Waterlily a break...

Book Haul [8]

I haven't thought of a name for a weekly meme of book hauls so let's just go with what's posted above.

For now, I'll call this the "Whatever it's called" Book Haul. It's only temporary, I swear. I just haven't thought of a clever name for it. So this is pretty much just like In My Mailbox by the Story Siren, This Week In Books by Pop Culture Junkie, and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews and all the other titles with the similar concept here and there. This is a weekly post showcasing the books you received for the given week, either bought online or from a physical bookstore, borrowed from the library or from a friend, received for review or won from a giveaway, etc.

Hello lovelies! It's time once again for this week's book haul. I only have a few books this week but I already dived into them as soon as I got them. *sigh* Such beauties! :)

BOUGHT: 

(Arrived from the BOOK DEPOSITORY)

JUST FOR FINS by Tera Lynn Childs (Hardcover) - Read
WILDCAT FIREFLIES by Amber Kizer (Paperback)

"Waiting on" Wednesday [5]

*"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Hi there! Happy Wednesday! 

Here's my pick for this week:

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I'd Like To See Made Into a Movie

Top Ten Books I'd Like To See Made Into a Movie

Hello fellow readers!

Well we all know any movie adaptation can never surpass the beauty of any book we read but it's nice to see them get turned into films anyway. So here's my list. Some are already in production or are being considered to be filmed and some aren't, either way, I love these books! ^_^

Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Hello?! Alex anyone? LOL.

Divergent by Veronica Roth. Action packed and awesome.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. An entertaining book with even more entertaining characters. Jace just never fails to crack me up.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I liked it better than Twilight and I couldn't help but shed a few tears now and then while reading it.

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs. I always imagine this as a mushy chick flick. It's cute, romantic and... there's Quince! *wink. wink.*

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. Now who doesn't want to see Ash and Puck come to life? 

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. Female assassins! 'nuff said.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young. Makes me think of it as a female version of one of those Gladiator-like films only less brutal with an added romantic story. But action packed nonetheless.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. It's no doubt that those who've read it call it the ultimate fairy tale retelling so yes I want to see this turned into a movie.

Legend by Marie Lu. June and Day in the flesh is something worth watching. 

That's it for me. How about you? What book would you like to see turned into a movie? Let me know and I'll be sure to check it out.

Have a good day! 

Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs

        

Fins Are Forever
(Fins #2)
by Tera Lynn Childs

Summary from Goodreads:

"On Lily Sanderson’s eighteenth birthday she’ll become just a girl—still a mergirl, true, but signing the renunciation will ink Princess Waterlily of Thalassinia out of existence. That leaves plain old Lily living on land, dating the boy she loves, and trying to master this being-human thing once and for all.

Now that Lily and Quince are together, mer bond or not, she’s almost content to give up her place in the royal succession of Thalassinia. But just when she thinks she has everything figured out, the waves start to get rough. Lily’s father sends a certain whirlpool-stirring cousin to stay with her on land. What did Doe do to get herself exiled from Thalassinia and stuck in terraped form when everyone knows how much she hates humans? And why why why is she batting her eyelashes at Lily’s former crush, Brody?

The seafoam on the raging surf comes when a merboy from Lily’s past shows up—Tellin asks Lily for something that clouds her view of the horizon. There’s a future with Quince on land, her loyalty to the kingdom in the sea, and Lily tossing on the waves in the middle. Will she find a way to reconcile her love, her duty, and her own dreams?

Tera Lynn Childs’s sequel to Forgive My Fins offers another tail-flicking romance with plenty of fun, sun, and underwater adventure."

Rating:

How fun was this book! 

I liked Forgive My Fins, the first book, but I loved Fins Are Forever. This had more twists and turns than the first one. 

I love Lily’s voice. She’s gotten funnier than she was in Forgive My Fins. I can see how she and Quince *sigh* were really the perfect match; jiving and taunting each other playfully then mushily cuddling and saying sweet-nothings the next. I also like seeing her struggle with the human customs such as tests, college, all that sort. She was just so cute being so stressed out and her underwater/sea-related reactions like, “son of a swordfish,” were so entertaining. Quince *heavier sigh* lived up to his perfect boyfriend image, we all know there’s no such thing as a perfect boyfriend, but I love how he befitted the persona. It’s nice to see a deeper side of Doe, who I hated at first, and Brody as well. 

I also liked that I got to know more about Lily’s kingdom, Thalassinia, and the other places in the aquatic, mermaid world. 

This is such an enjoyable, funny, romantic light read that I finished sooner than I expected. Although, I do have to ask; is there are third book? 'Coz I'd really be happy if there would be.

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

        

Forgive My Fins
(Fins #1)
by Tera Lynn Childs

Summary from Goodreads:

"Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush. 

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life. 

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned."

Rating:

Forgive My Fins is a like a mushy, chick flick. It has a simple story told in a vivid mythological setting. It was really cute! Despite not being a fan of chic lit, this one is something that I enjoyed. It’s quite a predictable love story, but there are a few unexpected twists that kept it interesting.

Although, I have to admit that I had a bit of a fit towards some of the events. For instance, there’s this part where Quince beats the hell out of Brody for not much apparent reason other than he found out about Lily’s secret. I think there should’ve been a definite reason for him to kick Brody’s butt; like say, Brody tried to take advantage of the Lily’s secret or, better yet of Lily that turns out offensive and dangerous or something; just to spice up what’s happening.