spotlight on: totally should've booktag

Welcome to another month of "Spotlight On" posts here at Stardust and Words! This is a monthly feature that I head up here, where each post has a different bookish theme. You can find the rest of the spotlight posts here! This month, I am doing a booktag for my spotlight post. I saw this tag first on Katytastic's channel on youtube, but it was created by Emma at emmmabooks! If this tag appeals to you, I tag you in it :) Hopefully y'all will enjoy this, I just love doing tags!

The Totally Should've Booktag

1. Totally should’ve gotten a sequel 

 I'm cheating and putting two books here, and NO ONE can stop me! I love a good contemporary that makes me have all of the feelings, but they are never long enough for my taste! Both The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord and Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda were AMAZING!!! Two of my favorite contemporaries ever. And I loved their endings a lot, so I don't necessarily want them to be longer. However, I would LOVE to see a sequel to either one of these, perhaps with the characters in college or something! I would love to read about Paige and Max or Simon and Blue again, they are some of my absolute favorite characters! (Emery Lord or Becky Albertalli or both... PLEASE?) That is the dream.
 

2. Totally should’ve had a spin off series

Maybe I'm just selfish when it comes to my favorite characters, but I definitely did not want to let this series go. I understand that the main arc of the trilogy is over, but that definitely doesn't mean that there couldn't be another series to go along with this one. There are tons of possibilities with this world. I would love to see Damen and Laurent rebuilding after the events of Kings Rising, or a spin off about Jord, or about one of the other empires that we didn't focus on in this series, or about a future where Damen and Laurent's successors are ruling. There is a lot of potential here, and  I would love to read another series in this world.

3. An author who totally should write more books

Jandy Nelson! She is so incredibly talented, her ability to put words together into magic is unparalleled. She only has two books out right now, and it has been SO LONG since I'll Give You The Sun came out. I need some more of her magic words in my life. I know that she has another book coming out in early 2017 (*I think*) but I need it to be sooner. I would just love to read absolutely anything she writes. 



 

4. A character who totally should’ve ended up with someone else  

I won't say anything too spoilery here, in case you haven't finished this trilogy, but I wasn't 100% happy with who Alina ended up with in Ruin and Rising, at the end of the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. It made sense, following from the events of that book, but I might've  had her end up with someone else. That being said, I wasn't unhappy with the end, per se, but it wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be. Honestly, I really wanted Alina to end up being by herself and being fine with it, but I understand why the book took the route it did! 

  

5. Totally should’ve ended differently

I think that we can ALL agree on this one. When I first read this book, I couldn't believe what was actually happening, I just kept on reading to the end, hoping that it was a sick joke. Then, when there were no more pages, I closed it, threw it across my bedroom, and just started crying. I mean, this was total BS, right?? It was unnecessary to cause us that much pain, especially after the series had spent three books building and characterizing?? I will literally never get over the fact that this one ended the way that it did. Insanity. 

  

6. Totally should’ve had a movie franchise  

How awesome would it be to see the world of the Lunar Chronicles on the big screen? The high tech, futuristic world, mixed with the multiple settings that come with the installments of these books? Plus, the characters are so diverse, I just think that this could be a blockbuster. I also think it could work well as a TV show, but the settings lend it perfectly to a movie. Plus, there's the added feature of them being fairy tale retellings, which would attract another audience altogether. PLEASE hollywood, make these books into movies, and if you actually do, please do a good job.

 

7. Totally should’ve had a TV show

I think that we can all agree that the Percy Jackson movies sucked. I mean, they literally did not even attempt to make them good. They could've had another Harry Potter franchise on their hands, but they chose to make stupid decisions which made it pretty much impossible for them to keep making the movies. However!!! There are 10 books in the PJO and HOO series, which would make for a really really awesome TV series! If they started out with younger kids and let them age up naturally, I think it could be so awesome and different. I mean, look at Shadowhunters! The TV show is already doing better than the movie did. PJO could benefit from that as well. 
 
8. Totally should’ve had only one point of view

I honestly don't have an answer for this one. I generally like books with multiple POVs. The only one that I could maybe think of is Allegiant, but even that I didn't really mind! 
 

9. Totally should have a cover change

I usually would say that nothing should ever have a cover change, because I hate it when my books don't match, but I seriously cannot believe that they made six books with these covers for Vampire Academy. They're cheesy and actually kind of creepy, and I just think that there are so many more, better options for this series. The books are really good, but the covers actually suck. 



 

10. Totally should’ve kept the original covers

I WILL NEVER BE OVER THIS. LOOK HOW PRETTY THE COVER FOR UNSPOKEN IS! Then look how utterly underwhelming the cover for Untold is. I literally stopped reading this series partially because they changed the covers and I was so mad about it. Also because the ending of the first one made me so sad, I surpassed sad and when into furious, but also because of the covers. 

11. Totally should’ve stopped at book one     

I'm sorry, Maggie Stiefvater, but The Wolves of Mercy Falls was not my cup of tea. I think she is a great writer, but I just could not get into the characters or the plot of this book, and then she wrote THREE MORE! This was just a no, from me. 







 I hope y'all enjoyed this! 

xx
Caroline   

HAMILTON booktag

Umm, so basically, like just about everyone else in the world right now, I'm obsessed with Hamilton. If you've been living under a rock and haven't heard about it, it is a hip-hop Broadway musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton. It's one of the most amazing things to ever exist in the world, and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is one of my favorite people ever, and the creator of another popular show, In The Heights. When I saw that Krystianna did this tag over on her wonderful blog, Downright Dystopian, I knew that I had to do this one as well! So thank you Krystianna for the tag and also for the images of the song titles, which I am borrowing here! Here is the link to the OP of this tag.  Here we go!

I would love to be a Shadowhunter. Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series were some of the first books that I read that really got me into the online book community. They remain some of my favorites, and I love the idea that, in this world, the fantastic is just right under everyone's noses. I would want to be a Shadowhunter for sure, but just seeing vampires and werewolves and seelies and warlocks would be incredible for me. Or, taking it even further, going back to Victorian London and being a Shadowhunter there would be just as amazing.

Louis Lane from Gwenda Bond's incredible series! I read the first book over the summer, and the second one is supposed to be coming out later this year. I don't hear nearly enough praise for this book, because I think that it is wonderful, and Lois is an incredible character. She's a precocious loudmouth who can't keep her nose where it belongs, which is useful, because it gets her into all kinds of scrapes that are both exciting and rather funny. I love the idea that Lois Lane has always been incredible, and she doesn't need Clark Kent to make her so. Love this book, can't wait for the next one.

Of course, I'm going with Delilah Bard from The Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab. The second novel is out next week (!!!!) so there's still time to hop on this incredible bangwagon. Lila a swashbuckling fiend who dreams of getting out of the gray doldrums of London, where she is trapped in a man's world. When she runs across Kell, a magical traveler, she sees it as her opportunity to become something more than the hand she's been dealt, and follows him into the unknown, hoping for adventure and, just maybe, a ship to fuel her escape into the unknown.

What else can I choose but the relationship in the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth??? No spoilers here, if you haven't already had your heart ripped mercilessly out of your chest, but this is one of the saddest endings to a book or series that I have ever run across. I think I cried just as much the first time I read TFIOS as I did when I finished Allegiant, and that is saying something, for sure. I swear, this was the most unnecessary plot twist in the entire world, and I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that it actually happened.

Besides King George himself, who I would pick if I could, I am going to go with basically everyone from Vicious by V.E. Schwab (her second appearance on this list, woohoo) There is a lot of gray area over who is evil and who is not, and I'm not sure there is ever even a clear answer about who we are supposed to root for, but the one thing that I do know is that everyone in this book has their sassy moments, for sure.

I thought that I saw the plot twist coming in the end of Crown of Midnight, the second book in Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass series, but it turns out I was MISTAKEN. It took me totally by surprised, the direction that Mass took the character of Celaena, and she continued with that amazing arc through the third and fourth books. Queen of Shadows had about 15 plot twists that I totally didn't see coming, and I loved every single second of it. From the reveal moment in the second book, these books have not taken their foot off the gas.

When the fourth book came out last summer, I marathoned all of The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer. I think that these lend themselves really well to marathoning. They are middle grade, which makes them super quick and fun reads, and the world is so fun to slip into, you won't realize that you've read through two books before you reach for the third one. I would definitely recommend this series to fairy tale and MG fantasy lovers. The characters and the plot events are just wildly entertaining.

I am a huge fan of multiple POVs. I absolutely love reading from many different character's perspectives, especially if it is done right. The most recent book that I loved with multiple POVs was Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. There are six main characters in this novel, and all of them have such a distinct voice. Bardugo manages to juggle them expertly, giving them all screen time without detracting from the depth of their characters. Love love love this novel, so sad that it is only going to be a duet.

Um, duh. 

(This is spoilery, obviously)

Basically, the end of The Book Thief destroyed me, and I wish that I could go in there and make the bomb not fall, saving everyone close to Liesel, but especially Rudy. I swear to God, when Rudy died, I wanted to rip out my own hair and just cry forever, which I basically did. This book is so beautiful and heartbreaking, especially in the end, and I love it for that and also in spite of it.

If you love Hamilton and want to do this tag, please do and comment a link to your post!! I would love to see what you guys come up with! 

xx

Sunny

top ten tuesday: badass book heroines

Hello all! I'm sorry I've been relatively absent from the blogging sphere for the past couple of weeks, but I've had midterms and an insane amount of writing to do, so that took precedence. But I am back and my schedule is clear for the next couple weeks, so lets talk heroines!

the taylor swift book tag

It's that time again! And by that I mean "Caroline is bored and doesn't want to do homework so she's doing another book tag!" I've been really obsessed with Taylor Swift's new album, 1989, recently, so when I was searching for a tag to do, this one jumped out at me immediately. 

I first saw this tag on Christine's channel (link to that video here), and the original video is here. 

Let's get this party started! 

Bookish Identity Tag

1) What dystopian/fantastical world would you live in?

V: Everyone says this during the tag, but I have to wonder- who would live in a dystopian world? I'm not ready to off into the Hunger Games. I'm a fantastical world fan to start with, it's taken me awhile to get into the whole dystopian world thing. (ok...I can actually see myself living in the Shatter Me world if I can be with Warner, but...) so for this answer I'm going with... The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. Sunny and I said no having the same answers, so you can have Harry Potter Sunny! Merry Christmas! I would love being a Shadowhunter, though. I could travel the world and go to different institutes, I'd be a badass Shadowhunter...yeah. Shadowhunter world. I'm goin' to Alicante, woo!

S: I agree with Vi on this one. Going to Panem? No, thanks. But there are plenty of fantasy worlds I'd be perfectly happy to go into. Harry Potter is an obvious choice, but I also really like the Graceling world... so I'm vacillating and then: DING. I'm going to Camp Half Blood. I want to pick strawberries and swim in the lake and scale the lava climbing wall! I want to be friends with Percy, Annabeth and Grover and be taught by Chiron. I even want to play Pinochle with Mr. D. As long as I'm not the child of a lame god. I'd be someone with super awesome powers and a pegasus. 

2) Who would your partner be?

S: I mean. What kind of a person would I be if I didn't choose my husband, the love of my life, hands-down best male protagonist in the history of the world? Will Herondale. We'd be living in London, happily running about, all badassery and bravado, killing demons and such, then return to hearth and home and hole up in the library reading everything in existence together. The feels. THE FEELS. 

V: If you guys haven't heard, Sunny over here has been reading The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black. I read this book sometime back in er...October? And I. FELL. IN. LOVE. WITH. GAVRIEL. Oh Gavriel my love, the mad poet who is secretly the most awesome person in the entire book and kicks butt and is so loyal and loving but also crazy and powerful and obsessive and poetic and freaking AWESOME. He freaking rocks! Gavriel is the singular most unpredictable, wild, fantastic guy I've read this year. I LOVED READING THIS BOOK BECAUSE OF HIM. Gavriel and I can be happily married and in love and just happily ever after. The end. 

3) Who would be your godly mother/father? [Percy Jackson]

INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR PERCY JACKSON

V: Ok, so I've only read Percy Jackson and the Olympians, not the Heroes of Olympus yet, but I'm going to have to go with Hades. Hades was always a mythological character that fascinated me. Plus, ask Sunny, I'm weird. But I could totally see myself being (SPOILER FOR PJO HERE) Bianca de Angelo and kicking butt. Except, you know (AGAIN A SPOILER I'M SORRY) actually living...but see Persephone is also a character that interested me a lot, so I don't want to have her dislike me like she does Nico, so can I be Hades and Persephone's daughter? Or like a demigod but their demigod? Because Persephone isn't a major god so I want this to work...HEADCANON.

S: This isn't one that's like majorly focused on in the book, but this is one I imagine to be really awesome. I'm going to say this is how I think of being a kid of this god to be, even if it wouldn't actually be like this in the books. So I think it'd be awesome to be the daughter of Apollo. He's archery, medicine, poetry, music AND THE SUN. THE SUN. If Percy can control water, Jason air, Leo fire, why can't a child of Apollo control light? I would be burning people to a crisp with THE POWER OF SUNLIGHT. Bam. And I'd be Katniss. And I'd be healing those bitches with my mind. And singing while I did it. I just really like Apollo ok. 

- Would you be a downworlder or nephilim? [Shadowhunter world]

S: Nephilim. FO SHIZ. I mean, I'm not really digging being a werewolf or vampire, and I like the powers of a warlock but I don't really want to live forever. But being a whip-slinging, rune-drawing, black leather wearing badass of a Nephilim. That I could reconcile myself with. Like IMMEDIATELY. Also if I could live in the London institute and be married to a Herondale that would be much appreciated. 

V: NEPHILIM NEPHILIM NEPHILIM. I was already living in the Shadowhunter world as a Shadowhunter, so what else can I say? For more, see fangirling above in question one!

- Which house would you be in? [Harry Potter]

V: Pottermore sorted me into Slytherin, and I hadn't really thought of what house I'd be in. Then Sunny told me about a super legit Harry Potter house quiz- link it sister!- and I took it. SLYTHERIN! And I really like that about myself. So Slytherins are NOT all the terrible thugs people make us out to be. We're very loyal to each other (Slytherin is like a family, people, we don't step on each other in a competition we look out for each other), we can trust people, but trust is essential to a Slytherin. We're ambitious so we get what we need to done. But we can still have fun, enjoy music, all the ordinary things. I really love being Slytherin, and I'll wear my green and silver proudly. Also, we do get along with people of other houses. Promise. Also, mini rant aside, Draco Malfoy in a Very Potter Musical was awesome!!!

S: Ok so Pottermore sorted me into Gryffindor, which, tbh kind of surprised me. I had myself pegged for a Ravenclaw, but after I took a second quiz (LINK) and I still got Gryffindor, I could see it definitely. I do, in fact, tend to rush into situations without thinking, and while usually I can pull it off, sometimes it backfires in my face. I do tend to have very few fears, either out of stupidity or bravery (or both), and I'm very loyal to a small group of friends. Also, if Hermoine Granger can be a Gryffindor, so can I. (even though the ravenclaw common room is still the coolest thing at Hogwarts). So: I finally have my HOUSE PRIDE! And Vi and I get along pretty well, for a Slytherin and a Gryffindor. :) 

- Which faction would you be in? [Divergent]

V: Dauntless. Let's go jump out of a train guys. 

S: What she said. 

- We wanted to add a question that I really liked: What would your Grace be? [Graceling]

V: It has been FOREVER since I've read these books. But Sunny said I could pick anything. I want to say weaponsmaster like sword and bow because that would be practical in that world. But I'd want to be away from the influence of the king so I wouldn't be used like Katsa. So, a rogue weaponsmaster? That sounds like an interesting life... 

S: I really love the Graceling world. It is one of my favorite series, but if I was to live there I'd just have to be graced. I think I'd want to be graced with the ability to control the elements. Air, wind, fire, earth. That would be super awesome, and no one would be able to touch me. 

Hope you enjoyed! Comment your answers below!

xx

S (+V) 

Tip Top 25 Favorite Books/Series

This is probably one of the hardest things I've ever tried to do. Narrowing down the hundreds of books I've read in my life to a slim list of the top twenty-five books/series. I tried to be selective, at first only putting down the books that I would save if I only had thirty seconds to pick books, but then I couldn't leave out any of my other favorites, sitting there, staring at me with their sad book faces...
I went a little crazy, I think.
In the end, I came up with fifteen series and ten stand-alones, all of which I feel adequately represent my reading choices, at least for the past few years. If you haven't read one or many of these books, I definitely recommend every single one of them! It doesn't matter your taste in books, I truly believe that all of these books have something for everyone.

October Wrap-Up

This will be coming a little late, seeing as how it's already November, but I thought it would be a nice first post, since I read quite a few books in October!

Coming in with a grand total of 11 books: reactions, summaries and ratings under the cut.