My Most Anticipated Releases for October

I decided that my TBR posts were getting a little bit too long, especially with these fall releases, so I am now going to do separate posts for the TBR lists and anticipated releases. October is full of many many releases for YA and Middle Grade novels. :)

OCTOBER 1

The Notations of Cooper Cameron

Book Review: The Hanging Girl by Eileen Cook

Publish Date: October 3, 2017
320 pages [Kindle edition]
HMH Books for Young Readers

Synopsis:
Skye Thorn has given tarot card readings for years, and now her psychic visions are helping the police find the town’s missing golden girl. It’s no challenge—her readings have always been faked, but this time she has some insider knowledge. The kidnapping was supposed to be easy—no one would get hurt and she’d get the money she needs to start a new life. But a seemingly harmless prank has turned dark, and Skye realizes the people she’s involved with are willing to kill to get what they want and she must discover their true identity before it’s too late.

My Thoughts:
I was gifted this book via Netgalley.
I have been very interested in crime-like stories lately and was pretty pumped when I was approved to read this novel because it sounded similar to the tv show Psych's version of a psychic. I am always happy to read about another Shawn Spencer! This story starts out with teen psychic Skye Thorn giving someone a tarot card read. Skye is a very easy perspective to read from and I really liked her voice. She comes from a single parent home and her mom is kind of one of those spaced out moms who wants to be friends rather than a parent to their child. The story continues where Paige Bonnet has gone missing. Paige is the daughter of a judge who wants to run for Senate and a popular girl in the school that Skye never really spoke to. 

I enjoyed the storyline very much, but I had problems with how characters were introduced and it seemed like they would get fleshed out, but it never actually happened. Some characters were more insignificant and didn't add anything to the story so it was confusing to get random bits of detail about people who weren't really part of the story. I was surprised by the twists and really liked them, but then the ending was very odd to me. I don't really understand why Skye chose to continue her future with the person she did. Overall, the plot was great (minus the ending), the characters were meh, and there were bits and pieces I had issues with throughout the story...like the random pop culture references that were out of place and talking about washboard abs even though there was literally no romance in the book. 
 

Prideathon [TBR List]

Prideathon is hosted by Maddy, Marta, Em, and Kav. It is a biannual readathon that is focused on promoting LGBTQIAP+ books. There will be group book and reading and bookstagram challenges included. The dates for this round of Prideathon are Sept 25 thru Oct 1.

I have read a lot of books with LGBTQIAP+ representation lately and I would like to continue to do so. I'm looking forward to finding more wonderful reads and educating myself on a topic I, as a straight cisgender person, do not live and will never have firsthand experience knowing.

Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

This is an original tag from Isabeau's Literary Musings and it's Harry Potter, so I'm absolutely going to do it!

GENERAL
1 Favourite book? Prisoner of Azkaban
2 Least favourite book? Goblet of Fire or Half Blood Prince
3 Favourite movie? Goblet of Fire
4 Least favourite movie? Prisoner of Azkaban
5 Favourite quote? “I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed.”

CHARACTERS
6 Favourite Weasley? Fred/George
7 Favourite female character? Hermione
8 Favourite villain? Bellatrix
9 Favourite male character? Sirius
10 Favourite professor? Professor McGonagall

WOULD YOU RATHER
11 A, Wash Snape's hair, or B, spend a day listening to Lockhart rant about himself. - A
12. Duel A, an elated Bellatrix, or B, an angry Molly - A
13. Travel to Hogwarts via A. Hogwarts Express or B. flying car. -  A
14. A, Kiss Voldemort. Or B, give Umbridge a bubble bath. - A
15. A, ride a hippogriff, B, ride a firebolt - B

BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTATION
16 Is there a character which you felt differently about in the movies vs books? Dumbledore. I feel he wasn't book Dumbledore and that set the tone for a lot of the movies to not be as accurate.
17 Is there a movie you preferred instead of the book?  Goblet of Fire.
18 Richard Harris or Michael Gambon as Dumbledore? I think Gambon looks more the part, but I think Harris acted more the part.
19 Your top thing (person or event) which wasn't included in the movie that annoyed you most. PEEVES and a lot of the intricacies of Prisoner of Azkaban
20 If you could remake any of the Potter movies, which would it be? The third movie. I didn't like how much of the third book they left out and I don't think they really did the book justice.

HOGWARTS
21 Which house was your first gut feeling you'd be a part of? Ravenclaw
22 Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottermore (or another online sorting quiz)? I actually was originally sorted into Hufflepuff, but the new "more accurate" quiz put me into Ravenclaw.
23 Which class would be your favourite? Transfiguration or Care of Magical Creatures
24 Which spell do you think would be most useful to learn? Accio, for sure.
25 Which character do you think at Hogwarts you'd instantly become best friends with? Hermione or Luna

MISCELLANEOUS
26 If you could own one of the three Hallows, which would it be? The cloak
27 Is there any aspect of the books you'd want to change? This can be a character, and event, anything.  No, nothing.
28 Favourite marauder?  Moony!
29 If you could bring one character back to life, which would it be? Fred. Although all the others are heartbreaking...the twins should be together, alive.
30 Hallows or horcruxes? Hallows

Book Review: Freefall by Joshua David Bellin

Publish Date: September 26, 2017
368 pages [Kindle edition]
Margaret K. McElderry Books

Synopsis:
When the 1% and the 99% clash, the fate of the human race hangs on the actions of two teens from very different backgrounds in this thrilling sci-fi adventure.

In the Upperworld, the privileged 1% are getting ready to abandon a devastated planet Earth. And Cam can’t wait to leave. After sleeping through a 1,000-year journey, he and his friends will have a pristine new planet to colonize. And no more worries about the Lowerworld and is 99% of rejects.

Then Cam sees a banned video feed of protesters in the Lowerworld who also want a chance at a new life. And he sees a girl with golden eyes who seems to be gazing straight though the feed directly at him. A girl he has to find. Sofie.

When Cam finds Sofie, she opens his eyes to the unfairness of what’s happening in their world, and Cam joins her cause for Lowerworld rights. He also falls hard for Sofie. But Sofie has her own battles to fight, and when it’s time to board the spaceships, Cam is alone.

Waking up 1,000 years in the future, Cam discovers that he and his shipmates are far off-course, trapped on an unknown and hostile planet. Who has sabotaged their ship? And does it have anything to do with Sofie, and the choices—and the enemies—he made in the past?

I Suck at Read-a-thons [TBR List]

 Image from Sam's Nonsense

I love the idea behind this readathon so much. The ISATRAT is hosted by Sam of Sam's Nonsense. The other readathon/reading challenges are lower pressure for me because I don't want to try and do too much, but I also love that this one is so low pressure. I totally think I can do this. Below are the challenges from Sam.

The End of the Year Book Tag

I decided that I wanted to start doing a few book tags here on the blog for fun. The first one is the "End of the Year Book Tag" started by Ariel Bissett. The year is winding down now that September has hit and it's time to wrap up the reading stuff :)

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
I need to finish The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket, Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: The Illustrated Version by JK Rowling, and Roseblood by AG Howard. I've started all four of these books and then put them down because I got sucked into others.

#TheReadingQuest [Finish Line]

All artwork is designed by CW of Read, Think, Ponder.

I'm bummed that The Reading Quest is over :( I ended up finishing my Rogue quest line and reading 2 side quest books (and part of a third). I wish I would have been able to read more, but I was dangerously close to falling into a reading slump with some of these books. The highest rated one for me was the 24 page graphic novel for the mini game side quest. The rest were all 3 stars and under. I ended up with 120 EXP and 144.2 HP reaching a Level 3. Overall, I really enjoyed this reading challenge. I love the premise and loved participating! :)

ROGUE: +50 EXP

• A banned book: Drama by Raina Telgemeier (238 pages, graphic novel) +5 EXP, +11.9 HP
• A book cover with a partially obscured face: Mistrust by Margaret McHeyzer (333 pages) +10 EXP +33.3 HP
• A book with under 500 ratings on Goodreads: Found by Stacey Wallace Benefiel (159 pages) +10 EXP, +15.9 HP
• A book published by a small press: The Secret of the Sphinx by Samuel Bavli (134 pages) +10EXP, +13.4 HP
  
• A book with a one word title: Caraval by Stephanie Garber (401 pages) +10 EXP, +40.1 HP
  

SIDE QUESTS:

• POTIONS: 
• MULTIPLAYER: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (read 16 pages) +0 EXP, +1.6 HP
  
• GRIND:
• TIME WARP:
• OPEN WORLD:
• RESPAWN: 
• EXPANSION:
• MINI-GAME: Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson (24 pages) +5 EXP, +1.2 HP
• ANIMAL COMPANION: Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! by Mariko Tamaki (208 pages/marginalized author) +20EXP, +20.8 HP

SOCIAL MEDIA:

• 4 instagram posts so far +4 HP 
• 2 twitter posts +2 HP

Level 3 //  120 EXP // 144.2 HP

Book Review: Mistrust by Margaret McHeyzer

Published July 29, 2016
333 Pages [Kindle edition]

Synopsis:
I’m the popular girl at school.
The one everyone wants to be friends with.
I have the best boyfriend in the world, who’s on the basketball team.
My parents adore me, and I absolutely love them. My sister and I have a great relationship too.
I’m a cheerleader, I have a high GPA and I’m liked even by the teachers.
It was a night which promised to be filled with love and fun until…something happened which changed everything.

#LastYearAThon [TBR List]

Yes, yet another readathon. I told you I found a treasure trove! #LastYearAThon is hosted by Richard's Book Nook, Lavender and Mud, The Awkward Bookworm, and Kay Maldonado and runs from September 8 through 11. The premise is to read a book or books that you wanted to read last year, but didn't get around to reading.

My TBR is going to be short and sweet because this is a four-day readathon. The book I want to read is...

Illuminae! I wanted to read this technically before last year, but all last year, I kept meaning to buy it and everyone was raving about it. I had some major FOMO. I finally purchased it when Book Outlet had it on a major sale...like last month! I definitely want to read this over the weekend. It's the coolest book cover I have ever seen.

Updated on 9/11: Everything started to overlap there for a second. #YearAThon was September 4 to September 10 and #TheReadingQuest ended on September 10. So I didn't get to start Illuminae until yesterday when I finally finished Caraval. So I didn't get as far as I would have liked to. I am enjoying it immensely though.

Total books read: 0

Total pages read: 140 (not included Mistrust or Caraval)

Books I Read in August

#AYearAThon [TBR List]

I decided to join in on the #AYearAThon fun. Each first full week of the month, a readathon is held and there are themes and challenges for each month. In the month of September, the theme is STANDALONES with the challenge of reading one-word titles. It runs from September 4 through 10.

I'm keeping my TBR list small. Both books are ones that are overdue for reviews on NetGalley. Both are standalones with one-word titles. I'm hoping to finish both this week.

Mistrust // Awake

Sequel September [TBR List]

I recently discovered a treasure trove of readathons/reading challenges and decided to try to do a couple in September and see how that goes. If it hinders my reading process or I get in a slump, I may not continue into October.

First for September is a month-long reading challenge called Sequel September hosted by Books & Munches. The goal is to read sequels. I need to do this so badly. I have a goal to finish 10 series this year and so far, I have managed to finish 1 (that has no more books coming out this year).

September TBR List + Upcoming Releases

In August, I finished 8 books and I am 8 books ahead of my Goodreads challenge! The furthest ahead I have been this year so far and I could not be happier. I'll talk about the mini challenge I did in August (like in past months), list my Owlcrate and Books on my Desk, and quickly go over where I stand on my Netgalley books. Then as always, there are the main challenges I'm doing this year. My mini goal for September is to read 2 Owlcrate books and 2 Netgalley books. Because most of the books on my desk are now Owlcrates :) I just hope to keep up the momentum of the last two months. The Biannual Bibliothon and Bout of Books readathons really kicked me into gear and prevented me from falling into a slump!