Happy New Year!!!

It's 2019!! How is that possible?
So since it's a new year, I should set some goals. No promises of sticking to them.

GOODREADS 2019 READING CHALLENGE SET AT 55 BOOKS

I shouldn't have a problem with this one because I read 77 books in 2018. I would love to one year read 100, but that might never happen. I did read less in 2018 than I did in some previous years, so I guess I would like to make more time for reading, which would mean less time distracted by social media.

READ MORE BOOKS FROM MY SHELF

I have a book hoarding problem. I have a lot of books that I own that I haven't read, it takes me forever to get to them. I check out a lot of library books. I would like to read more books from my physical shelf.

GET BETTER AT READING ARCS-- BE IT NETGALLEY OR PHYSICAL

One of the coolest things, I think, is to get arcs/early copies of books in the mail from authors and publishers. Also I love getting arcs on Netgalley. I'm awful at reading them. Maybe I can try to read at least one ARC a month. We'll see. Even as I'm typing this, I have no faith in myself. But I need to read my arcs so I'll have good stats on social media and publishers will know that I'm legit for reviewing and sharing the stuff that I get.

FINISH SOME SERIES

I finished a couple series in 2018 and it felt good. It's such a feeling of accomplishment, so I'd like to finish some in 2019 too.

KEEP UP WITH POSTING ON MY BLOG, GOODREADS, AND INSTAGRAM

I feel like I stepped it up in 2018 with posting to my blog and instagram. I want to continue the trend of being active on those platforms. I want to make sure I don't leave books on my Goodreads Currently Reading Shelf forever, because that's my laziness. And I've been tossing it around in my head if I want to get back to making booktube videos. If I did, I'd like to do those vlog style reading videos, because those are fun to watch. I really enjoy booktube and I should get back to making my channel more active. I also want to continue the growth I had with my blog and instagram in 2018. I know it shouldn't be all about numbers, but it does feel good when you see those numbers go up. I'd also like to try out (and maybe get accepted) for some rep opportunities.

Those are some of my loose goals for 2019. In truth, I'm awful at sticking to goals, so we'll see how I do. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Review: Unaccompanied Minor (#1) by Hollis Gillespie

Title: Unaccompanied Minor (#1)

Author: Hollis Gillespie

Published by: Merit Press

Released: 2014

Source: Library

Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old April May Manning spent her life on airplanes with her flight attendant parents. When her father dies in a crash, April's mom marries a pilot who turns out to be an abusive jerk, and gets Mom confined to a psychiatric hospital. So April takes off, literally, living on airplanes, using her mother's flight benefits, relying on the flight crews who know she's been shuttling between divorcing parents for a year. Then, there's a hijacking, but why is April's "dad" on board? April flees to the cargo hold with another unaccompanied minor she's met before, and they fight to thwart the hijackers, faking a fire, making weapons from things they find in luggage. At last, locked in the cockpit with a wounded police officer, the boy, and his service dog, April tries to remember everything her parents said to do in a crisis above the clouds. But she knows it won't be enough. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

My Thoughts: This was a fun little surprise. I had never heard of Unaccompanied Minor before. I just happened to come across it while browsing my library shelves and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because this was a lot of fun.

April Mae Manning is a trip. I guess you'd call her a precocious teen. She's independent, resourceful, a survivalist, and just a tad bit crazy. She never shuts up, can talk a mile a minute. I was very entertained by her.

When the book first starts, she's giving an interview to the authorities. They'd ask her a simple question, like When did you first notice the hijackers? And April proceeds to go on an hours long spiel about her mother, best friend, Officer Ned, her adopted father (who she hates), her long lineage of family airline employees, everything you did and did not want to know about airplanes, and on, and on, and on. If I had been the investigator, I would have been so pulling my hair out in annoyance. April's ability to ramble on is really unparalleled to any other character I've read. So what should be a rather short story, becomes one epic tale. She was very entertaining.

I loved the cast of characters. I very much felt their pain when it came to dealing with some of April's shenanigans. Officer Ned had to put up with a lot from April. I loved her older flight attendant friend (Flo??) who looked out for her. It was just a very zany ride that I really enjoyed.

Near the end, I won't say I understood all the motivations for everything. After all that rambling, the reveals were very fast and sometimes not the most explained. I also do wonder what's going to happen with April after all that she has discovered.

I'd definitely recommend this for people who are looking for a fun read. It is very entertaining. I enjoyed it. It does feel a little like a hidden gem when it comes to a YA book that is a little different from all the other things being published. I'm definitely getting my hands on the second book because I want to see what April has in store for me next. Unaccompanied Minor was a fun time! And I now know more about aircraft crashes than I ever wanted to. My fear of flying might just be a little more heightened after this.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

One high flying plane adventure!

Reading Right Now! (189)

What I'm Reading Right Now! is...

Unaccompanied Minor (#1) by Hollis Gillespie and I'm enjoying it. It's about this girl named April Mae Manning who has a complicated family life, which has resulted in a convoluted custody arrangement between her adopted father (who she hates) and her mother who is currently residing in a mental institution. They both work for an airline. April gets so fed up with her adoptive father that she runs away. She hops from airport to airport, plane to plane. She knows the ins and outs of airports, so it's fairly easy for her to book herself on a flight and live in airport lounges. Then one of the flights she's on gets hijacked.

The FBI agents are trying to get the story of what happened out of her, but April likes to ramble, so those poor FBI people are in for a long, drawn out story.

I'm a little over halfway through, and I'm enjoying it. April Manning is a precocious teenager. She's annoying, but she's funny. She's resourceful too. If I was one of the grown-ups trying to interview her, I'd pull my hair out. She's amusing though.

That's what I'm Reading Right Now! What are you reading?

Review: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Title: Bird Box

Author: Josh Malerman

Published by: Ecco

Released: 2014

Source: Library

Synopsis: Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it's time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat--blindfolded--with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

Interweaving past and present, Bird Box is a snapshot of a world unraveled that will have you racing to the final page. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

My Thoughts: I finally read it and it did not disappoint. I've been wanting to read Bird Box for the longest time and the Netflix Adaptation gave me that extra push to finally read it so I could then watch the movie. I can't say I was expecting what this book delivered. I'd heard it was scary, so I was thinking a generic kind of horror book, but I was wrong. Bird Box is a slow, quiet kind of scare. It sneaks up on you and wraps its fingers around you. It's not in-your-face, but it's quietly malicious. There's a sense of panic and claustrophobia to it just imagining being deprived of your sense of sight. I really enjoyed it.

I liked how it had that post-apocalyptic vibe to it. I love post-apocalyptic stuff. I also thought the creatures were kind of interesting, because you never got to really see what they were. They could be anywhere, they could be everywhere, and that blindfold was the only thing protecting characters from madness.

Malorie's boat ride down the river was terrifying. That blindness played a large part to it. Not being able to see anything and just imagining all the terrors that could be around you. Without that sense of sight, the mind plays mean tricks. There were parts of her boat ride that were really intense, the ones involving the animals really come to my mind, animals of all kinds.

I also liked going back in time to right when the apocalyptic events were starting, and Malorie's journey to the house with Tom, Don, Cheryl, Olympia, Felix, Jules, and Victor. That whole thing was an interesting storyline to follow and so tragic.

Malorie was a very strong character. All the things she did for those kids, raising them, protecting them all by herself. She might have been tough, but she was determined for them to survive.

Bird Box was an experience that I really enjoyed. I can't put into words all the things I'm feeling and I don't want to spoil things for future readers. Just know, it was an intense ride.

Thoughts on Movie Adaptation: And because I watched the movie just a couple days after finishing the book, I thought I'd discuss it just a little bit. I thought it was a good adaptation. Of course they changed some things, they cut out some bits, added some other bits, but I'm not mad at it. I think it made for a very tense, enjoyable movie. 

I will say, it doesn't quite have the same punch as the book. When it comes to Malorie's raft ride, let's just say that book Malorie had a much tougher time than movie Malorie. I was waiting for the wolves and the birds, but they never came. I think that would have added some really scary scenes to the movie.

But as a movie adaptation, I think it did a pretty good job.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

A Quiet Kind of Terrifying

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I wish you a Merry Christmas. I wish you a Merry Christmas. I wish you a Merry Christmas because it is today!!! And for those that don't celebrate, Happy Tuesday!

I just wanted to thank everybody for supporting my Blog Life, my Book Life. I know I haven't been as active the past couple weeks and that's just because I got a little burnt out. But never fear, I hope to be better about posting.

I want to thank all the people that invited me to be on Blog Tours or sent me books for review. I am sorry for being a failure at reading all those review books, but I promise they will get read eventually. I want to thank all the people that visit my blog and read my posts. I know I tend to ramble. And I also want to thank all the authors and publishers who keep producing awesome books. And all the libraries for being awesome and letting me check out all kinds of book. Thanks Netgalley for letting me review early copies. Thanks to Goodreads and BookishFirsts for letting me win book giveaways. And thanks to Bookoutlet for helping to feed my addictions.
So that's all I wanted to say. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Reading Right Now! (188)

What I'm Reading Right Now! is...

Bird Box by Josh Malerman and I've had this book on my TBR forever! I've been eyeing it and eyeing it and I finally decided to give it a read. After I read the book, I would like to watch the new Netflix movie adaptation. 

I'm about 60 pages in, and so far, I'm intrigued. It's got this post-apocalyptic vibe, which I'm always a fan of. It also has some mystery horror aspects to it too. I have no idea what these creatures are, but just imagining going everywhere outside blindfolded makes me a little nervous and claustrophobic. Not knowing what is making all these people go insane so you literally can't look outside anymore. Craaaazy!

I'm also liking how this book is told from the future and the past. If the whole book had taken place with future Malorie, I don't know if I would like it as much. I appreciate getting the backstory.

So that's what I'm Reading Right Now! What are you reading? Have you read Bird Box? What did you think of it if you did?

Fresh Releases: December 18, 2018

Here's the Fresh Fresh Releases for this week! There are some good ones.

 

 

 

The Disasters by M.K. England, which I'm really excited for.  Verity by Colleen Hoover, this one might have come out earlier, but it's still a December Release. The Cursed Sea by Lauren DeStefano, still need to read the first one, but look at that cover! Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard. I love a good thriller and this one sounds very interesting. Dear Heartbreak edited by Heather Demetrios. Not the Duke's Darling by Elizabeth Hoyt. I just had to sprinkle in a little historical romance. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn. Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about this one, but I was sold by the cover alone.

And those are the Fresh, Fresh Releases for this week! All Pictures are from Goodreads.com 

What releases are you excited about? I really want to buy some of them, but I've been kind of bad about buying too many Christmas presents for me, if you know what I mean. I've been taking Treat Yourself a little too literally.