Magical Readathon 2020: Wrap-Up

Hello, my lovely readers! I hope you’re all doing well!
I have officially passed all of my OWLS to become a seer! Hurray!
I came close to also obtaining the qualification to operate magical locomotives, but unfortunately, I didn’t end reading anything for Defence Against the Dark Arts. I just wasn’t in the mood for anything set at sea or by the coast.
Here’s what I read to become a seer:

Ancient Runes – Heart Rune: Heart on the cover or in the title

This was probably my favpurite book that I read for the readathon. It was a quick but stunning novel.
See my review here.

Astronomy – Night Classes: Read the majority of this book when it’s dark outside

This book was just okay. I found the plot to be boring and it certainly did not meet my expectations, which were set high after reading countless positive reviews and enjoying The Fault in Our Stars.
See my review here.

Divination – Third Eye: Assign numbers to your TBR and use a random number generator to pick your read

I can finally say that I’ve read 10 Sarah Dessen books! This was definitely my least favourite, but I’m glad that I read her debut novel.
See my review here.

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Although I didn’t fulfill enough/the correct prompts to obtain any additional qualifications, I did do a few more OWL!

Charms: Lumos Maxima: White cover

This was SO disappointing!
See my review here. 

Muggle Studies: Book from a perspective of a muggle (contemporary)

This was also pretty disappointing, but I still enjoyed it as a whole.
See my review here.

Potions: Shrinking Solution: Under 150 pages

This was an adorable little comic book that any book lover will relate to and love – I certainly did!!
See my review here.

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Since i managed to pass six OWLs, I would consider this readathon to be a success!
Unfortunately, I was very disappointed by most of the books that I read, but I still had fun participating.
Hopefully May will be a better reading month for me! Let’s keep our fingers crossed! 😉

Did you take your OWLs this year? How did you do?
What career are you going for?
What was your favourite book that you read in April?
Let me know in the comments down below!

As always, thank you so much for joining me today! I hope you have a wonderful evening!
See you again soon! ❤

 

Review: The Deal

Happy Saturday! I hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend so far. ❤
I read this book a couple of weeks ago, but I’m sorry to say that I was pretty disappointed by it. It has endless positive reviews, but I found it to be so problematic.
I hope you enjoy!! 🙂

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The Deal by Elle Kennedy
Genre: New Adult – Contemporary, Romance
Series: Off-Campus #1
Pages: 342
Publication Date: February 2015
My Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Read April 2020

Goodreads Synopsis:
She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy…
Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice… even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date.
…and it’s going to be oh so good.
All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

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Click here to read my thoughts/review on Goodreads!

Have you read The Deal?
Did you enjoy it more than I did? How did you feel about the protagonists?
Have you read any of the other books in this series?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments don below!

Thanks so much for joining me today! 😀
Hope to see you all again soon!! ❤

Find me on Goodreads here.

See my Bookstagram here.

Review: That Summer

Good morning, my lovely readers! I hope you all have been having a great week. 🙂
This morning I am bringing you a review of Sarah Dessen’s debut novel, That Summer. This was definitely my least favourite of the ten books that I’ve read by her, but I’m glad I finally had the opportunity to read her first book.
I read this book for my Divination exam in the Magical Readathon!
Hope you enjoy!! ❤

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That Summer by Sarah Dessen
Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 208
Publication Date: January 1996
My Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Read April 2020

Goodreads Synopsis:
For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She’s nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister—the always perfect Ashley—is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley’s reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

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Click here to read my thoughts/review on Goodreads!

Is That Summer on your TBR?
Have you read That Summer?
How did you think it compared to her other novels?
What are your favourite and least favourite Sarah Dessen novels?

As always, thank you so very much for reading. 🙂
See you again soon!! ❤

Find me on Goodreads here.

See my Bookstagram here.

See my reviews of Sarah Dessen’s other books:
Along for the Ride – Sarah Dessen
Someone Like You – Sarah Dessen
What Happened to Goodbye – Sarah Dessen

Review: But I Love Him

Hello, my fellow bookworms! I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend so far!
Today I’m back with a review for the first book that I read for the Magical Readathon! I picked this up totally on a whim  and flew right through it – the story was so well done.
Happy reading!! 😉

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But I Love Him by Amanda Grace
Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 245
Publication Date: May 2011
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Read April 2020

Goodreads Synopsis:
Sometimes at night, I wake up and stare at the heart for hours. I think of how I collected each piece from the beach, how I glued it all together into one big sculpture. I wonder if Connor realizes what it means, that he’ll always have a piece of me no matter what happens. Each piece of glass is another piece of myself that I gave to him.
It’s too bad I didn’t keep any pieces for myself.
At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track star with friends and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his emotional scars; only he could make her feel so loved – and needed. Ann can’t recall the pivotal moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor’s rage, a senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything – and everyone – in its path.
This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong.

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Click here to read my thoughts/review on Goodreads!

Have you read But I Love Him?
How did you feel about the reverse chronological order writing style?
Which books about abusive relationships would you recommend?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments down below!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day. 🙂
Until next time! ❤

Find me on Goodreads here.

See my Bookstagram here.

Magical Readathon 2020: TBR

Hello, hello, hello!! I hope you’ve all been enjoying your weekend so far! 🙂
I’m very excited to announce that I will participating in The Magical Readathon hosted by Book Roast for the first time! I’ve seen other people participate in the past and it looks like an absolute blast, so I’m excited to join in. The amount of work and effort that must have gone into this is incredible. It is very creative, well thought-out, and impressive.

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I chose the career of a seer, which requires that I take Ancient Runes, Astronomy, and Divination. I also plan on getting my certification to operate locomotive trains (Hogwarts Express, here I come!), which requires Defence Against the Dark Arts as well as Muggle Studies. I’m not sure I will be able to make it through all of these books, but I am hoping to!!

   

As usual, this TBR is very tentative because I am a mood reader, and despite the fact that I’m in the mood to read all of these books now, I probably won’t be in another five minutes. But without further ado, here are the books that I am considering reading this month to fulfill the prompts:

#TheReadingQuest Wrap-Up

Hello my lovely readers! A couple of days ago was the last day of #TheReadingQuest, which is a reading challenge I participated in that was created by Aentee over at Read at Midnight.

For this challenge, I selected the pathway of the knight, but unfortunately, I did not complete my challenge as I hoped I would. I completed only three of my five challenges on the knight pathway, plus one side quest.

I expected to get through way more than only four books, but back to school season was even more hectic than usual this year and sadly, I had very little time to read as a result. Also, the last two challenges I had to do for the knight were a book with a weapon on the cover and a book with a movie/TV adaptation. I had very few options for books that fit these prompts, and I just wasn’t in the mood for any of them. I am very much of a mood reader, so I’m thinking that reading challenges with very specific TBRs aren’t for me.

Despite the fact that I didn’t do as well as I had hoped and expected, I still had a lot of fun participating in the challenge, especially because of all the other wonderful readers and bloggers that I met and chatted about books with. As a new blogger, I really appreciate the great opportunities this reading challenge had!

Review: Love & Gelato

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you’ve all had an excellent first week of September!It was a bit of a long week for me, so TGIF!

Today I have a review for my most recent read, Love & Gelato.

This was the first book that I read for the Fall Bookish Bingo that I am participating in, (you can view my original post and TBR here) and it fulfills the prompt of reading a books set in another country.

I also read this book for #TheReadingQuest for the bonus challenge of Open World (read whatever you want). This book added 10XP to my pre-existing 40XP, totaling my at a whopping 50XP! This means that I have now made it to Level 2, yay! I also earned 38Hp since it was 389 pages. When added to my existing 114HP, I am at a total of 152HP!

And now, on with the review…

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Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary, Romance, Travel
Pages: 389
Publication Date: May 2016
My Rating: 3.75 of 5 stars
Read September 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:

“I made the wrong choice.”

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.
But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

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Click here to read my thoughts/review on Goodreads!

Have any of you read Love & Gelato?
What did you think of the plot buildup? Did you find it to be too predictable as well?
Is it on your TBR? What about Jenna Evans Welch’s next release Love and Luck?

Are any of you participating in the Fall Bookish Bingo? What about the Reading Challenge?

Let me know in the comments down below!

As always, thank you so much for joining me today! I hope you have an awesome weekend, and see you again soon!

Find me on Goodreads here.

Fall 2017 Bookish Bingo TBR

Hello readers, I hope you’ve all had a fantastic Sunday! I’ve decided to join in on Bookish Bingo, which is a readathon that lasts three months, in this case from September through November. It is being hosted by the wonderful Bekka from Pretty Deadly Reviews. You can see her post about the readathon here.

The rules are very simple. All you have to do is try to make as many bingos as possible, but you may not use a the same book for more than one square.

I’m really excited for this readathon because I know I will have very, very little time, if any, to read when school starts up again in two days. Since this readathon lasts so long, it will (hopefully) be possible for me to read five books throughout that time period and at least get one bingo.

Review: Things We Know By Heart

Good evening! I hope you’ve all been having a terrific Thursday! It’s been a little while since my last post, which I am really, really sorry about, but school is starting for me next week and it’s been hectic trying to get everything prepared.
But today I’m back with a review for the third book that I read for #TheReadingQuest, which applied to the prompt of reading a book with a red cover.
I have added another 10XP to my existing 30XP by completing this book, putting me at a total of 40XP! Only 10 more points to go until I reach Level 2!
The book is 304 pages, earning me 30HP to add to my existing 84HP, which means I now have a total of 114HP!

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Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby
Genre: Young Adult – Contempory, Romance
Pages: 304
Publication Date: April 2015
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Read August 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:
When Quinn Sullivan meets the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.
After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all.
Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn’t want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they’re connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost…and all that remains at stake.

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Click here to read my thoughts/review on Goodreads!

Is Things We Know By Heart on your TBR?
Have you already read it? Did you enjoy it?
What do you think of the cover?
Let me know in the comments down below!

Thank you all so much for reading! Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Find me on Goodreads here.

Review: The Last Time We Say Goodbye

Good afternoon everyone; I hope you’ve all have a wonderful day so far. Today, I am back with another book review! This book was the second book I have read for #TheReadingQuest, and it fulfilled the prompt of reading a book with a verb in the title.

Completing this book gives me another 10XP to my existing 20XP, meaning I am now at a total of 30XP!
This book was 390 pages long, earning me 39HP to my existing 45HP, putting me at a total of 84HP!

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The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand
Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary
Pages: 390
Publication Date: February 2015
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Read August 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:

There’s death all around us.
We just don’t pay attention.
Until we do.

The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn’t look at her like she might break down at any moment.
Now she’s just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that’s all she’ll ever be.
As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there’s a secret she hasn’t told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.
Lex’s brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn’t have to be real to keep you from moving on.

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a gorgeous and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and letting go.

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Click here to read my thoughts/review on Goodreads!

Have you read The Last Time We Say Goodbye? Did it have the waterworks effect on you? Which character was your favourite?
Did anybody else want Seth and Alexis to get together (I can’t be the only one!)
Have you read any of Cynthia Hand’s other novels? Which one should I start with?
Let me know in the comments down below!

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a fantastic night!

Find me on Goodreads here.