FIFA World Cup Book Tag

Thank you to Catherine @ This One is For The Books for tagging me in this!  This tag was created by Rendz @ Reading with Rendz Here we go!

Rules!

  • Link back to this post so I can read all your wonderful answers!
  • Answer the questions the best that you can!
  • Tag a few friends at the end to keep this tag going!
  • Have fun!

Time for kick off!!!

Let the Flags Fly

Wave them high and proudly!!! Look at all the fun colours!!!
A Book from your World Cup Competing Country/ the Country that You Want to Win!

My country (Canada) isn’t in the World Cup, so I will cheer for England, who has made it farther than they ever have before!

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My Name is Victoria by Lucy Worsley

I loved this book! It’s about Queen Victoria as a child. I highly recommend it. You can find my review here.

 

It’s The Beautiful Game

Football! Soccer! Beautiful! Whatever you call it!
A book with a pretty cover / A book that features soccer

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King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard

I love the covers of the books in the Red Queen series! Each one has a different crown on it. I hadn’t even realized, until I heard Victoria Aveyard say it at an event, that each crown is made of a different material! This one is made of bone and even has blood dripping from it. You can read my review for this book here.

 

Ferocious Fans

Face paint! Big signs! Lots of noise!
Name a fandom you love being a part of!

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

I’m even wearing my Hogwarts Alumni shirt as I write this post, so I’m a huge part of this fandom!

 

Teamwork! Teamwork! Teamwork!

There is no way one person can win the game!
Name your Favourite Bookish Crew / A Book that has Co-Authors!

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Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

The partnership of Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is amazing in this book! I haven’t read any books by them individually, but this book was incredible. I can’t wait to read the sequel, Gemini. You can find my review for Illuminae here.

 

Ref Blows the Whistle

You either love him or you hate him.
Name a book/character that you mixed feelings towards!

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Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I really liked this book, but it reminded me of so many other YA Fantasy novels. I still want to read the rest of the series one day because I’ve heard good things about it.

 

GGGGOOOAAAALLLL!!!!

Everyone loses their heads and starts yelling at the top of their lungs!
Name your last 5 star read!

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From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon

I loved this book! It’s definitely worth all five stars! You can find my review here.

 

The Gold Cup

It’s what we play for.
The Most Coveted/Loved Book On Your Shelf

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The Mediator: Shadowland by Meg Cabot

My copy of The Mediator: Shadowland is falling apart. The spine is completely cracked and the cover is peeling. But it’s so loved. I shared it with at least 4 different friends in middle school, when I started the series. And I have read it many times myself. It’s definitely a well loved book.

 

Since the World Cup is almost over, I won’t tag anyone, but anyone who wants to can do this tag! Link back to my post so I can see your answers!

Review: From Twinkle, with Love

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Title: From Twinkle, with Love
Author: Sandhya Menon
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Release Date: May 22, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy—a.k.a. Sahil’s twin brother? Dream come true x 2.

When mystery man “N” begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it’s Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she’s fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil.

Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she’s got is not the one she’s scripted. But will it be enough?

Told through the letters Twinkle writes to her favorite female filmmakers, From Twinkle, with Love navigates big truths about friendship, family, and the unexpected places love can find you.

Review:

This is another amazing story from Sandhya Menon! I love how her books are about Indian characters. I love reading novels that feature different cultures, and Memon’s books are extra special.

There were a few moments in this story that reminded me of the book Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. I also loved that book, so I liked these similarities. Twinkle has a secret admirer who emailed her, just like Simon and his secret crush, Blue. Also, Twinkle went to meet her secret admirer on a ferris wheel at a carnival, just like when Simon met Blue. I’m not sure if these similarities were intentional, but I enjoyed seeing Twinkle have some of the same experiences as Simon.

I loved the way that Twinkle writes to her favourite female filmmakers in her diary. One thing that I noticed right away was that she kept writing to the same women over and over. There are not many female filmmakers, so she didn’t have many to choose from. Hopefully, this book will inspire young girls to follow their dreams and create films, just like Twinkle.

I loved this book! I can’t wait to see what Sandhya Menon writes next!

Have you read this book? What did you think?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – July 9

It's Monday! What Are You Reading

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

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This weekend I finished From Twinkle, with Love by Sandy Menon.

What I’m currently reading:

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I’m currently reading Fawkes by Nadine Brandes.

What I’m reading next:

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Next I will be reading Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – July 8

Here’s my weekly wrap up!

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 5 weekly blogging memes:

I also posted an extract from the novel The Distance:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… From Twinkle, with Love

The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

This Sunday I reading From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy—a.k.a. Sahil’s twin brother? Dream come true x 2.

When mystery man “N” begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it’s Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she’s fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil.

Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she’s got is not the one she’s scripted. But will it be enough?

Told through the letters Twinkle writes to her favorite female filmmakers, From Twinkle, with Love navigates big truths about friendship, family, and the unexpected places love can find you.

What book are you in bed with today?

Review: A Wrinkle in Time

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Title: A Wrinkle in Time
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

“Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract”.

Meg’s father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?

Review:

This is a great story! I can see why it’s a classic.

This book reminded me of other classics, such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. In both of those stories, the main characters go on journeys through strange, fantastic lands, to find their way back home. Meg Murry also goes on a journey through fantastic lands, but it is to get her father back and then return home.

Though this story is more than 50 years old, it can be read today without a problem. There aren’t too many objects in it which point to the time period in which it was written, so it could just as easily be taking place today. The only thing I noticed that is mentioned is a typewriter, which would be replaced with a computer today. Other than that, the story could be written and read today!

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Review: The Last Time I Lied

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Title: The Last Time I Lied
Author: Riley Sager
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Dutton
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Release Date: June 26, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she–or anyone–saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings–massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. The paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the socialite and wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. When Francesca implores her to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.

Yet it’s immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. Already haunted by memories from fifteen years ago, Emma discovers a security camera pointed directly at her cabin, mounting mistrust from Francesca and, most disturbing of all, cryptic clues Vivian left behind about the camp’s twisted origins. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present.

And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price.

Review:

I never went to sleep away camp as a kid, so I’m not sure if it’s as creepy as it’s portrayed in stories. It seems like a common setting where things go wrong, in books.

Throughout the whole story, I kept changing my theory on what happened to the girls. I could work out a motive for almost every character, yet I was wrong in the end. I was surprised at what happened to the missing girls. I loved the very end of the book. You have to read right until the last page!

The subplot of the insane asylum was fascinating. I wish it played a more important part in the main story of the disappearance of the girls. It seemed like another story that ran alongside the main one. I wish they had been more united.

This story reminded me of We Were Liars, which takes place at a summer cabin. It had the same spooky, mysterious elements to it.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Review: DC Comics: Bombshells, Vol. 1: Enlisted

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Title: DC Comics Bombshells, Vol. 1: Enlisted
Author: Marguerite Bennett, Marguerite Sauvage
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: DC Comics
Source: Library
Release Date: March 8, 2016
Rating: ★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

In these stories from issues #1-6 of the hit series, learn the story behind this alternate reality where the Second World War is fought by superpowered women on the front lines and behind the scenes! It all begins with the stories of Batwoman, Wonder Woman and Supergirl.

Review:

In this graphic novel, the super hero women of DC Comics fight in World War II. They were given the name Bombshells, since they were the secret weapon.

Each of the characters were introduced individually. I recognized Wonder Woman’s origin story, when she met Steve Rogers. However, I was confused at the story of Supergirl and Stargirl. In this graphic novel, they were presented as Russian sisters who became the army’s secret weapons. I had no idea who they were until they were introduced by their super hero names. The different backgrounds for them really threw me off.

There was too much going on in this graphic novel. There were a few pages devoted to each super hero, who were all stationed in different places across Europe. It was hard to keep track of them all, especially the ones I wasn’t very familiar with. I wish they had come together in some way to see how they all worked together.

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

TBR Thursday – July 5

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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 All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Rashad is absent again today.

That’s the sidewalk graffiti that started it all…

Well, no, actually, a lady tripping over Rashad at the store, making him drop a bag of chips, was what started it all. Because it didn’t matter what Rashad said next—that it was an accident, that he wasn’t stealing—the cop just kept pounding him. Over and over, pummeling him into the pavement. So then Rashad, an ROTC kid with mad art skills, was absent again…and again…stuck in a hospital room. Why? Because it looked like he was stealing. And he was a black kid in baggy clothes. So he must have been stealing.

And that’s how it started.

And that’s what Quinn, a white kid, saw. He saw his best friend’s older brother beating the daylights out of a classmate. At first Quinn doesn’t tell a soul…He’s not even sure he understands it. And does it matter? The whole thing was caught on camera, anyway. But when the school—and nation—start to divide on what happens, blame spreads like wildfire fed by ugly words like “racism” and “police brutality.” Quinn realizes he’s got to understand it, because, bystander or not, he’s a part of history. He just has to figure out what side of history that will be.

Rashad and Quinn—one black, one white, both American—face the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn’t die after the civil rights movement. There’s a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world.

Cuz that’s how it can end.

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

Review: Queen’s Progress (Kit Marlowe #9)

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Title: Queen’s Progress (Kit Marlow #9)
Author: M.J. Trow
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Release Date: July 1, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

As advance guard for the Queen’s Progress, Christopher Marlowe tackles murder and intrigue within some of England’s grandest stately homes.May, 1591. When Queen Elizabeth decides to embark on a Royal Progress, visiting some of the grandest homes in England, her new spymaster, Sir Robert Cecil, sends Kit Marlowe on ahead, to ensure all goes smoothly. But Marlowe’s reconnaissance mission is dogged by disaster: at Farnham Hall, a body is hurled from the battlements; at Cowdray Castle, a mock tournament ends in near tragedy; at Petworth, a body is discovered in the master bedroom, shot dead.

By the time he reaches Chichester, Marlowe fears the worst. Are the incidents linked? Is there a conspiracy to sabotage the Queen’s Progress? Who is pulling the strings – and why? To uncover the truth, Marlowe must come up with a fiendishly clever plan.

Review:

This is the first book I’ve read in the Kit Marlow series, and I loved it. Even though I haven’t read the other books, I still understood everything. Some of the characters weren’t described in detail, because they were probably introduced in past novels, but it wasn’t a big problem.

I loved the mystery elements of the story. I had no idea what the solution would be. Each of the stops on the planned route of the Queen’s Progress had to be cancelled due to a commotion or death on the property. Each situation seemed so unique that I wondered how they could be connected. The mystery came together in a great ending.

Some of Christopher Marlow’s contemporaries were in the story. Robert Cecil, Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, was an important character. Will “Shaxsper” also made a couple of appearances in the Rose theatre. I loved how he made up words when he spoke to other people, because he created many of the words that we use today.

I loved this story, and I will definitely look for more in this series in the future!

Have you read this book or the series? What did you think?