Looking Forward: December

December is my favorite month of the year. I'm a total Who of Whoville. I'm all about cookies and hot chocolate and peppermint and carols and cheer, and crafts and baking and shopping and holiday movies. I'm Buddy the Elf's long-lost elf sister. I'm Tiny Timette. I'm Claymation.

Monica: You didn't buy presents yet? Tomorrow's Christmas Eve! What are you gonna do?
Chandler: Don't you have to be Claymation to say that?

So while December may be a slow month for new releases, to me, it's still the most wonderful time of the year.

Top Ten Fictional Families I'd Like to Celebrate Thanksgiving With

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Walkin' into Thanksgiving like



AMERICAN THANKSGIVING, my second most favoritest holiday, and that is 1000% because of all the pie. This is the high holiday of gluttons, and I am nothing if not a glutton. Nothing makes me feel more patriotic than when I'm stuffing my face and my brain cells turn off and I stop thinking like a real American and essentially transform into Joey Tribbiani

sounds reasonable

So, prepare for the unapologetic onslaught of Friends gifs, because it's THANKSGIVING

Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

Soundless by Richelle Mead
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Series: No
Release date: November 10th, 2015
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)
Length: 272 pages
Source: ARC from the publisher
Rating: :(

From Richelle Mead, the #1 internationally bestselling author of Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, comes a breathtaking new fantasy steeped in Chinese folklore.

For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation.

But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.

Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiugo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever...

I wanted to love this, but I just can't. I hate that I don't; I love Richelle Mead's books A LOT. I binge read the entire Vampire Academy series in about a week and then threw myself headlong into Bloodlines, wherein resides one of my all time OTPs (SYDRIANNN). Mead's strength has always been, far and away, characters. The people that populate her VA universe are so vivid and alive that I'd follow them anywhere in through crapfests like The Ruby Circle I mean what

So that's why I'm so confused and sad about what happened with Soundless.

so, so sad

Blog Tour: Every Word by Ellie Marney

Yay! I'm so excited to be part of the blog tour for Every Word by Ellie Marney, which is the second book in one of my favorite series of all time. it starts with Every Breath, and if you want to read my mostly incoherent and very exuberant review of that masterpiece, head over here. If you want to see some images that remind me of the mood, feel, look, and story of the first two books in the trilogy, scroll down to the goods.

#TheShelfieHop, or a Vlog Tour of my Bookshelves

Yay! Today's the The Shelfie Hop! Kristen at My Friends Are Fiction and Crystal at Bookiemoji got the great idea to do a blogosphere-wide hop where we all show off our beeyooteeful bookshelves on the same day. One of my main life projects over the last year or so has been to get my shelves in TIP TOP SHAPE, and I just very recently put the finishing touches on, so this hop couldn't have fallen at a better time. I'm so happy to FINALLY give that shelf tour I've been meaning to give for ages, ever since I dismantled my Stacks o'Doom and finally got myself some real like grown up shelves

(For newcomers, I used to store all my books in huuuuge stacks against the wall four feet high because I didn't have any shelves. Yes, it was a huge pain. No, I do not miss them.)

Without further ado: MY SHELFIE TOUR!



My fancy video camera was out of battery, and I was lazy, so I used the slightly less fancy camera. Also my filming technique leaves something to be desired. BUT LOOK AT THE PRETTY BOOKS AND LISTEN TO THE UPBEAT MUSIC YAY

And now, some close up pictures to further show off the preciouses!

Audiobook Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter by Marissa Meyer
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Series: Yes, #4 in The Lunar Chronicles
Release date: November 10th, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)
Length: 832 pages or 23 hours, 30 minutes
Source: audiobook ARC (ALC?) from the publisher
Rating: WINTER IS HERE

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

The book:

AHHHHHHHH WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!

This was basically my thought process for the first, like, six hours of the audiobook, which I listened to in one obsessive binge one afternoon.

BECAUSE OH. MY GOD. There’s really nothing I can say to sell you on this series; if you’ve read Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, then you’re already frothing at the mouth for Winter. It’s like me trying to explain why Christmas/Hanukkah/your birthday/WHENEVER IT IS YOU GET PRESENTS is worth anticipating. You’re already anticipating it. You already know the deal. You already want the precious. IT IS THE LONG AWAITED WINTER, AND WE ARE TIRED OF BEING SWEET SUMMER CHILDREN, AND WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL OF OUR PRECIOUS SPACE BABIES. IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE WE CHECKED IN ON OUR PRECIOUS SPACE BABIES, WHOM WE LEFT IN SUCH DIRE SPACE STRAITS.

Literary PSA: Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot

Long ago I decided to start a NEW THING: Literary Public Service Announcements. Essentially, I'm going to pimp a book that I read before I started blogging, but that I want to foist upon the world due to its high levels of sheer awesomeness for the good of the public and all that jazz. Instead of me just telling people over and over that they should read something "JUST BECAUSE!!!1!", I've decided to actually explain in a more eloquent fashion just why my favorite books are my favorites.

Last time on Literary Public Service Announcements: Tamora Pierce

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

I first read this book a bajillion--okay, fifteen, but that's basically a bajilliaon--years ago and remembered nothing about it, which makes sense, since I was, like, nine. I don't think it was the right book for me then, either, since at age nine I don't think i was quite ready for all the dry Regency goodness this book has to offer.

But I've been in a terrible reading slump recent, which has not been helped by NaNoWriMo, let me tell you, and nothing was grabbing me. Nothing. So I decided... you know, maybe I should look at the 2983473 books I own that I haven't read. Maybe I should turn to the backlist books for guidance, and read something entirely no-pressure, with  no deadlines or release dates. No nothing. Something romantic, and fun, and full of all the tropes and treasures I love best.

And lo, I spotted Sorcery & Cecelia, which I have owned since the tender age of, like, nine.

Top Ten Debut Authors Who Have Me Looking Forward to Their Sophomore Novel

GIVE ME THA NEXT ONE PLS NAOW PLS. I chose only debut authors whose second books have not released yet and whose sophomore outings I'm looking forward to with bated breath. Someone give me a time machine, a DeLorean, ANYTHING.

Looking Forward: November

HAPPY NOVEMBER! I love November. I always feel more productive in November, be it the cool(ish, here in Los Angeles) weather coupled with big hot cups of coffee, or the arrival of NaNoWriMo, aka National Novel Writing month, which I partake in every year. Though ever November, I feel that panic that OMG THE YEAR IS ALMOST OVER HOW WHAT SO MUCH TO DO I'VE DONE SO LITTLE OH GOD I NEED A PAPER BAG TO BREATHE INTO

Sometimes it's really hard for me to keep track of what comes out what month, especially while juggling early reviews and publisher catalogues and all the other confusing bookish things bloggers deal with. It's just a LOT OF BOOKS ALL THE TIME. How do you ever keep them straight?! So on the last day of the month, I post a guide to what books I'm most looking forward to in the following month and that you should keep an eye on. So, since it's now NOVEMBER, here are the October releases most tempting me.