Author: jilljemmett

Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book.

Owlcrate Unboxing – September 2018

It’s time for my September 2018 Owlcrate Unboxing! I know it’s a few months late, but this fall was a very busy time for me. I still wanted to share these goodies with you all!

I love these “Crows Club Fingerless Gloves!” They make me feel like I’m part of the Crows Club from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

I love this mug, with images from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, including dementors and the Knight’s bus!

This really cute nail polish advertises the new book, Grim Lovelies by Megan Sheperd. I love the metallic colour.

This piece of art by Kristy Carter Art is inspired by Lila Bard from the A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.

This “Nemesis” pack of bath salts is inspired by the Diabolic boy S.J. Kincaid.

I love this lip balm! It’s apple-spearmint flavour, which is so unique but so good!

And finally, the book is Mirage by Somaiya Daud! I can’t wait to read it!

The October theme is Lost in the Bookstore! 

Did you get this Owlcrate box? What did you think of it?

Stacking the Shelves – December 15

This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

I received 2 books from Penguin Random House Canada:

The Dark Days Deceit (Lady Helen #3) by Alison Goodman

Rick Mercer Final Report by Rick Mercer

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for sending me these books this week! 

What books did you get this week?

Review: P.S. I Still Love You

Title: P.S. I Still Love You (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before #2) 
Author: Jenny Han
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 26, 2015
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Timesbestseller To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing. 

Review:

I loved this sequel to To All The Boys I Loved Before.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. Since the whole story of the letters being sent out was completed in the first book, I didn’t know what else was going to happen. There was lots of drama and some love triangles in this story.

I found the last third of the story really emotional. I don’t want to spoil what happens, but I’ll say that there were a lot of confused romantic feelings in that part of the book. It made me feel so emotional, which surprised me. I think these feelings demonstrate that the story is very realistic.

I enjoyed this book, and I’m curious to see what happens next!

What to read next:

Always and Forever Lara Jean (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before #3) by Jenny Han

The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1) by Jenny Han

Have you read P.S. I Still Love You? What did you think of it?

Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag

Thank you to Meghan at Meghan’s Whimsical Explorations & Reviews for tagging me!  

The Rules

  • Tag & link the person who tagged you.
  • Tag and link Jenniely’s post, for she’s love to read everyone’s answers!
  • Tick/cross off the ones you’ve done.
  • Tag another 10 people.
❌

Nice

✔️

Naughty

1. Received an ARC and not reviewed it  ✔️

2. Have less than 60% feedback rating on Netgalley ❌

3. Rated a book on Goodreads and promised a full review was to come on your blog (and never did) ❌

4. Folded down the page of a book ❌

5. Accidentally spilled on a book ❌

6. DNF a book this year ✔️

7. Bought a book purely because it was pretty with no intention of reading it  ✔️

8. Read whilst you were meant to be doing something else (like homework) ✔️

9. Skim read a book ✔️

10. Completely missed your Goodreads goal ❌

11. Borrowed a book and not returned it to the library ❌

12. Broke a book buying ban ❌

13. Started a review, left it for ages then forgot what the book was about ✔️

14. Wrote in a book you were reading ❌

15. Finished a book and not added it to your Goodreads ❌

16. Borrowed a book and not returned it to a friend ✔️

17. Dodged someone asking if they can borrow a book ❌

18. Broke the spine of someone else’s book ❌

19. Took the jacket off a book to protect it and ended up making it more damaged ❌

20. Sat on a book accidentally ✔️

Final Score: 8/20

Last year my score was  9/15, so I was naughty, but this year I’m nice!

Tags:

If you don’t want to do it or have already done it, no problem. If you do the tag, please tag me so I can see your answers!

First Lines Friday – December 14

This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.

Here are my first lines:

“Allie tightened her grip on her phone as she stepped out from behind the curtain and walked to the center of the stage. She looked out into the Fuller University Auditorium. The room was packed with people, and all but three of them were complete strangers.”

Do you recognize these first lines?

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

And the book is… Click’d by Tamara Ireland Stone.

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898-2.png

Goodreads synopsis:

Allie Navarro can’t wait to show her best friends the app she built at CodeGirls summer camp. CLICK’D pairs users based on common interests and sends them on a fun (and occasionally rule-breaking) scavenger hunt to find each other. And it’s a hit. By the second day of school, everyone is talking about CLICK’D.

Watching her app go viral is amazing. Leaderboards are filling up! Everyone’s making new friends. And with all the data Allie is collecting, she has an even better shot at beating her archenemy, Nathan, at the upcoming youth coding competition. But when Allie discovers a glitch that threatens to expose everyone’s secrets, she has to figure out how to make things right, even if that means sharing the computer lab with Nathan. Can Allie fix her app, stop it from doing any more damage, and win back the friends it hurt-all before she steps on stage to present CLICK’D to the judges?

New York Times best-selling author Tamara Ireland Stone combines friendship, coding, and lots of popcorn in her fun and empowering middle-grade debut.

Have you read Click’d? What did you think of it?

Review: DC Super Hero Girls Vol. 1: Finals Crisis

Title: DC Super Hero Girls Vol. 1: Finals Crisis
Author: Shea Fontana
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Publisher: DC Comics
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 12, 2016
Rating: ★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

Class is in session! Welcome to DC Super Hero High! 

It was the night before finals and the student body is hard at work… and nothing is going right! Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Harley Quinn, Batgirl and their friends are learning to become heroes, but no one knew the trials that awaited them. In the first original graphic novel from the DC Super Hero Girls line, meet the students of Superhero High School as they find out that fun, friendship and hard work are all parts of growing up! 

Review:

This is a great graphic novel. 

The girls have to complete their final exams in this book. However, a villain started capturing them, leading up to their exams. Each of the girls disappear, and it is up to one of their friends to come and save them. 

I loved how each of the super hero girls had their own section in the story. Some of the other novels just focus on one at a time, but each girl had her own part in this one. My favourite girl, Harley Quinn, even had her own special part at the end. 

This is a cute story for middle grade readers. 

What to read next:

DC Super Hero Girls Vol. 2: Hits and Myths by Shea Fontana

DC Super Hero Girls: Date with Disaster! by Shea Fontana

Have you read DC Super Hero Girls Vol. 1: Finals Crisis? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – December 13

TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.

My pick this week is Broken Things by Lauren Oliver.

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods. 

Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it. 

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: Snow in Love

Title: Snow in Love
Author: Melissa de la Cruz, Nic Stone, Aimee Friedman, Kasie West
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Source: Purchased
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 30, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

What’s better than one deliciously cozy, swoon-worthy holiday story? Four of them, from some of today’s bestselling authors.

From KASIE WEST, a snowy road trip takes an unexpected detour when secrets and crushes are revealed.

From AIMEE FRIEDMAN, a Hanukkah miracle may just happen when a Jewish girl working as a department store elf finds love.

From MELISSA DE LA CRUZ, Christmas Eve gets a plot twist when a high school couple exchange surprising presents.

From NIC STONE, a scavenger hunt amid the holiday crowds at an airport turns totally romantic.

So grab a mug of hot cocoa, snuggle up, and get ready to fall in love…

Review:

I loved this collection of holiday love stories. I will talk about each of the four stories for my review.

Snow and Mistletoe: In this story, Amalie goes on a road trip to get home for Christmas with some other students from her school. They weren’t friends before they met at a snowed in airport in Colorado, but they formed a relationship after being trapped in a car together for the ride to California.

Working in a Winter Wonderland: Maxine get a job at a department store so she can buy a dress for her best friend’s New Year’s Eve party. She finds love in an unexpected place.

The Magi’s Gifts: Kelsey struggles to fit in with her wealthy friends. She wants to buy her boyfriend the best Christmas gift, so she has to make some sacrifices.

Grounded: Leigh is grounded in Atlanta so she can’t travel to Florida to spend the holidays with family friends. She meets an old friend, Harper, in the airport and they become reacquainted with an I Spy/Scavenger Hunt game.

Even though these were all short stories, the characters were well developed. I felt like I knew them by the end of the stories. The endings were predictable but they were such warm endings, which spoke to the holiday spirit of the stories. I highly recommend this book for some festive teen romances!

What to read next:

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by Stephanie Perkins (editor)

Have you read Snow in Love? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting On’ Wednesday – December 12

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is The Black Coats by Colleen Oakes. The release date is February 12, 2019.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Roses are read, violets are blue, if you hurt us, we’re coming for you.

The deeply secretive Black Coats have been exacting vengeance on men who hurt girls and women for years. And Thea has just received an invitation to join them. This is the opportunity she’s been waiting for to finally get justice for her cousin Natalie, whose killer went free.

Thea dives head first into the group, training every day with other girls whose stories rival hers. Together they carry out Balancings—acts of revenge guaranteed to teach a lesson. With every predator threatened, every blackmailer exposed, and every date rapist punished, Thea can feel herself getting closer to avenging Natalie’s death.

But then the Balancings begin to escalate in brutality, and Thea discovers that the Black Coats are not all they seem to be. Thea must confront just how far she’s willing to go for justice—and what kind of justice Natalie, and Thea herself, deserve. Because when the line between justice and revenge is razor thin, it’s hard not to get cut.

What books are you waiting on this week?