Friday, December 8, 2017 / ,

Rapid Fire Book Tag

A random book post has been called for and I have seen this book tag going around and thought it would be fun. So, here we go for great books and bookish habits in this Rapid Fire book tag. Prepare yourselves. Ready, set...



 Physical Book or E-book?

Physical book. It just feels right.

 Paperback or Hardcover?

Honestly after many years of questioning- paperback. Not only do they make my wallet happier, but carrying it around and seeing how I've read it over and over just makes it feel like more of an experience. More mine.

 Online or In-Store Book Shopping?

In store. I find that I second guess myself less for some reason and it feels so satisfying to walk out with a good stack of new stories. Plus, just being around the books makes me feel better.

Not going to lie though, getting a book package in the mail, even from myself, is always awesome.

Trilogy or Series?

Series. I want to live with characters I love for as long as the story will allow. Usually I also find that a trilogy just doesn't so certain worlds justice.

Hero? Or Villain?

After reading great anti-heroes and The Darkling... Villains. Especially well written ones.

A Book Everyone Needs to Read?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern- oh, or The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons come to mind.

Recommend an Underrated Book?

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly



 Last Book You Finished?

I just reread A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. It is a book that my book lover heart loves dearly.

Last Book You Bought?

I was going to buy The Glass Eye today, but I didn't! So hmm, The Secret History by Donna Tartt I think.

Weirdest Thing You Used as a Bookmark?

I am a corner ripper when in need. Most of the time it is an unneeded piece of paper, now page marker.

Top 3 Genres?

Fantasy, All Romance, Historical Fiction

Borrow or Buy?

I'm a book buyer. It had been a problem after reading out my high school library. I am trying to borrow more though when I am not sure if a book is going to be a new favorite, or try to use my kindle more. My bookshelves have ran out of room!


Used Books: Yes or No?

YES. I love used books as much as new. They have a story with the story. Once, I bought a used copy of The Thorn Birds while out of town. When I got home, I found out the original owner had their address on the inside. The book had returned to its hometown with me!

Characters or Plot?

Characters. Plot is definitely needed, but a good book is characters that make me feel like when I open it up to read, I am home.

Long or Short Books?

Loooonnnnnggg. As long as each page keeps me turning.

Long or Short Chapters?

Shorter. I just have begun to notice this.

Name the First Three Books You Think Of:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
The Siren by Tiffany Reisz



Books that Made You Laugh or Cry?

The characters in Tiffany Reisz's Original Sinners books always make me laugh.
Cry? It takes a lot for a book to make me cry. Get emotional however, recently probably The Neapolitan series by Elena Ferrante. They remind me of a good friend and myself in odd ways.

Our World or Fictional?

Nooo. This question. It depends! Fictional...no reality. I. Don't. Know. If I could jump into a book though, if that is what the question is asking, I would.

Audiobooks?

Never listed to one. I always thought they would be great on a long car ride though.

Do You Ever Judge a Book by its Cover?

Sigh. Yes. Especially if it is to be displayed on my shelf. It took me forever to finally read Elena Ferrante who I love because of the covers.



Book to Movie or TV Adaptions?

I love film, but I must say TV, especially if it is a beloved book series. Game of Thrones and Outlander really showed how well book to TV could be done.

 What is an Adaption better than the Book?

Either Girl, Interrupted which was losely based on the memior, or the Mockingjay films. The book needed to be fleshed out and as well capturedas the film.

Series or Stand-Alone?

Series.


read article
0 notes

Wednesday, November 1, 2017 / ,

What You Want

All you want is for him to look at you. Ok, strike that. Touch you– No no no this is all wrong...yet also completely correct? So let's make this big. Let's make this broad and thematic like all the fancy people do.

All you want is everything.


The big sha-bang as we like to say. Sometimes with a little more emphasis on the 'bang.' There is nothing wrong with that. Not one bit. Until you start to question yourself. That is the pebble that is yanked loose before suddenly a waterfall of leftover deadbeat worries and fears and wants that make no sense burst forth. Most of the time, because the answers to each of those things, is right in front of our faces.

Getting to know someone after all, it takes time. More time if you think they are a jerk right off the bat when they spill a cup of cherry soda on your lap and then try to cover it up discreetly not with a napkin, no, but their own hand. Luckily sometimes, the person you meet is someone who's hatred of mornings is ruined when they have to crack a smile after screwing up the game two truths and a lie by telling not one, not two, but three truths. No lie to be found within his history of random stories and cello playing.

It sort of feels like a moment that was meant to happen, and for once, those moments that take place usually only in stories are what you want.

You want to be a story.

You want to be folded up between pages and arms that drape across shoulders and are bound tight like the hand that seemed to fit perfectly, swinging over broken crunched leaves until suddenly...it doesn't. And those eyes. They look at you like a wall of color. But they don't see past the word. That laugh, like lyrics, are off key.

And all you want is something.

A spark of across the page before the chapter ends.

And all you want is nothing.

So you get nothing.

Before all you want is for him to look at you. Ok, strike that.

All you want is everything.

When everything is so hard to find.


read article
0 notes

Tuesday, May 16, 2017 / , , ,

The Red

Usually when I am in a reading rut I stay there. I stay there and mope, or read really terrible online romances to fill the void of whatever it may be on that particular day. Something soft. Something sweet, and usually pink.

Well, now all I see is Red.

And I am quite pleased about it.



Never make a promise you don’t intend to keep… 

Mona Lisa St. James made a deathbed promise that she would do anything to save her mother's art gallery. Unfortunately, not only is The Red painted red, but it's in the red. She soon realizes she has no choice but to sell it.

Just as she realizes she has no choice but to sell it, a mysterious man comes in after closing time and makes her an offer: He will save The Red if she agrees to submit to him for the period of one year.

The man is handsome, English, and terribly tempting...but surely her mother didn't mean for Mona to sell herself to a stranger. Then again, she did promise to do anything to save The Red...

Let me begin by openly admitting that I will read anything Tiffany Reisz writes. Novels, series, novellas, saucy short stories of all shapes and sizes. I would probably read her grocery list and wonder at what kind of cereal she is fond of. Tiffany Reisz is part of my soul now, if that is not a totally creepy thing to say...I sound a tad bit off my rocker, don't I?

Apparently this new erotic (and I found out just before beginning to read) paranormal novel, The Red, is rubbing off on me.

Tiffany did warn me though when I began and announced such on Twitter about how excited I was to get my hands on another one of her erotic, light on the romance, works. She replied to me with, "It's insane pornography. How you like that sort of thing!"

All I can say is why yes. Yes, it is absolute filth, and thank you.

"Art should be dangerous, you know. It should say something to society that society doesn’t want to hear." -The Red, Tiffany Reisz

It was also somehow absolutely beautiful in a type of story telling that somewhere inside me I really needed as of late. My soul filled with great stories is telling me this as I type.

I can easily see now why in her Original Sinners series, sweet cinnamon bun Mick from The Angel was willing to trade covers in the bookstore for it. The Red is a book of sexy filth that made my week. Who would have thought that days after reading a straight up erotica that I would still be thinking about it? From the art, the plot that lead me on to the very end, and of course the sex scenes that were vivid and situations for all to enjoy while reenacting famous paintings, The Red made me wish I had an art gallery to save.

It also really made me want to meet our main character Mona's mother who previously owned the gallery. She sounds awesome.

Tiffany- or shall I say, Mistress Nora Sutherlin from the Original Sinners, outdid herself with this intense and wonderful erotica that still managed to hold a strong story line that promised to reveal a one sinful and captivating end. Of course I am not too surprised.

This was a novel that I went in knowing not a whole lot but the words Red, Erotica, and Art. I loved it as I sat down and read it deep into the night even after my kindle beeped of how its battery was low. There was nothing stopping me on this mysterious and slightly weird journey of Mona and all the stories of The Red that swept me away into its pages and famous paintings tied in a red velvet bow that only now makes me question if such wonder was only a dream.

Or something greater.

I'm going with greater.



The Red by Tiffany Reisz is being released on July 11, 2017 from 8th Circle Press.

read article
0 notes

Wednesday, January 4, 2017 / , ,

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

And my first book of the year was All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. I should preface this with pretty much going into this book after seeing it on a trusted books instagram-ers page and only slightly reading the summary. It sat in the my goodreads 'to read' list for a while before I couldn't stand it anymore and got for myself as I birthday present in its hardcover beautiful glory. And now I have read it and I am a bit blown away.

“I love you. I love you all the way.” 
― Bryn Greenwood, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things


So yes, it was a very good pick for my first book of the year. Phew.

From the moment I picked it up, it was yet again another novel I thought I would read a bit of before putting it away for the night and getting some writing done. That did not happen though. Nope, I read this stunning story of hardship and the harsh reality between love, family, and life under the stars all the way through before I reached the last page. And still, I wanted more even the story concluded with all I could have asked of these broken characters. More of Wavy, Kellen, and so many other characters that we dove into the minds of through different point of views that made this book truely magical. This coming from someone who isn't a big fan of multiple point of views when I get into a character. Impressive.

“Summer had so many tricks. The nights lasted longer than the days, even though the angle of the Earth’s axis meant that was impossible. The night couldn’t be longer, but summer made it seem that way. Summer sneaked time for me, taking a minute from February, three minutes from English class in March, ten whole minutes from a boring Thursday in April. Summer stole time to give me another hour under the stars with Kellen.” 
― Bryn Greenwood, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

This novel of course, if you know anything about it and the relationship of characters is not your average coming of age novel or romance. The moral intrigue and interesting way of characterization is what really rounded this story. Throughout, I was questioning the morality and wonder of it all. It had me squirming in some parts with its lovely prose and rooting for the story in others as I remained captured the entire way through.


“Your family is real, but mine isn't? Real people with real feelings, but my family isn't real to you. You think. I'm a character. A story. Those women you talk about. Not real people to you. Stupid women. I'm real. I'm as real as you are. My family is real like your family.” 
― Bryn Greenwood, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

Though never in such a situation as the characters as well, I couldn't help but relate to them in the smallest ways. From Amy in the first chapter needing to feel as if she belonged and was more. Wavy and her loneliness that simply became apart of her. Even Grandma who baked the cookies with soft middles, I related to in tiny ways of being unique. Each of them constantly keept me engaged and FEELING.

It seems like it is all about the feels for me, guys. And this book had it as well as plot and a fresh story as different as its characters with light and dark woven throughout like the stars in the sky Wavy and Kellen admire in the late summer nights as they tried to form the love and family they have always wanted and needed together.


As you all know if you saw my previous post, the first book of the year I feel means something to me. It is as if it has a small touch on how my year will go. With this novel, I can only hope it means greatness for my own. You know, if I ever have time to write with all these fantastic books popping out at me.

Of course, I will never be angry at that.

What was everyone else's first reads of 2017? I hope they were amazing.

read article
0 notes
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Latest Instagrams

© Hopefully. Design by FCD.