On What People Call "Gay" Music

This post was originally for #LGBTApril month but I couldn't seem to get it finished in time, and I was going through my draft posts the other day and while it's not longer #LGBTApril or about books, and while I love book blogging, why not add a little something different? (And okay, any excuse to talk about music really.) So I'm combining another one of my loves, music. I read an interview ages ago, and I'm not sure which one it is so I've linked the two that I re-found today, with Tegan and Sara, where they're asked about their sexuality effecting their music, and how others see that music because of being gay.

Waiting on Wednesday (#74)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Expected publication: January 8th 2015 by Penguin

  

The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this compelling, exhilarating, and beautiful story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven





Excuse me while I cheat. I already have this, and already read it, and will hug my ARC forever and ever because. This. Book. It's beautiful and sad and just everything.

What're you waiting on?



DNF Round-Up: September & October

Wow, going through my reading schedule, I haven't DNF'D that many (okay, I've DNF'D a few more than just one, but these are the ones that I didn't really give a chance, when I usually read up until at least 50%, and therefore to a DNF review.)

Apparently, I'm feeling really mean today, because this was the book that inspired my Bad Taste in Words post, which I did say I wouldn't name the book. Oops?

Can't even remember why with these two.

Review: Sweet Unrest (Voodoo, who?)

Sweet Unrest
Author: Lisa Maxwell
Publication Date: October 8th 2014         
Publisher: Flux
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Lucy Aimes has always been practical. But try as she might, she can’t come up with a logical explanation for the recurring dreams that have always haunted her. Dark dreams. Dreams of a long-ago place filled with people she shouldn’t know…but does.

When her family moves to a New Orleans plantation, Lucy’s dreams become more intense, and her search for answers draws her reluctantly into the old city’s world of Voodoo and mysticism. There, Lucy finds Alex, a mysterious boy who behaves as if they’ve known each other forever. Lucy knows Alex is hiding something, and her rational side doesn’t want to be drawn to him. But she is.

As she tries to uncover Alex’s secrets, a killer strikes close to home, and Lucy finds herself ensnared in a century-old vendetta. With the lives of everyone she loves in danger, Lucy will have to unravel the mystery of her dreams before it all comes to a deadly finish.

That's it, you and me Voodoo, are breaking up. I'm done. I give up trying to find a good Voodoo book. You win, YA.

We were promised a Murder mystery, there wasn't much of one. Century-old vendetta? I'll give you that, though what was the reason of the vendetta? Deadly finish? Nope. You'd think it would be intense and dark and scary with Vooodoo and all, but it didn't feel like danger or anything.

Stacking the Shelves (#72) & Recap

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

So, how was everybody's week? Mines been okay stressful, but it's sorted itself out and phew because I hate being a ball of stress, which is also why I've had a cute and fluffy reading week. I'm on my third one. In a row. I don't do that, ever. I'm not a cute and fluffy type of reader until I need one, but I finally got around to reading another Kasie West, and Anna and the French Kiss and of course after Anna I had to read Lola, because Stephanie Perkins.

Also, uhm, I was being really good about not picking up so many e-arcs, had around 4 in two weeks. And this thing happened. Called the Harper Collins upload.

Review: The Walled City

The Walled City
Author: Ryan Graudin
Publication Date: November 6th 2014
Publisher: Orion
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

730. That's how many days I've been trapped.
18. That's how many days I have left to find a way out.

DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....

JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....

MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....

In this innovative and adrenaline-fueled novel, they all come together in a desperate attempt to escape a lawless labyrinth before the clock runs out.

The Walled City is not a bad story. It has an important story to tell. Keep that in mind throughout this, but I don't think that story was highlighted as much as it should have been and was dragged down by other perspectives and a lot of inner monologue we didn't really need. For the first half, from each perspective, we basically had the same things happening, the same thoughts going on a loop that didn't seem to end up going anywhere. Like I said, it isn't a bad story, it has the foundations there to be that important story, but instead it only touched upon it.