september wrap up

I know, I know, it is past the first week of October, but it truly doesn't feel like I can start a new month of blogging without doing a wrap up post, just for the fact that I need to actually remember what I read the month before! September was a super hectic month for me, and I know that it reflected here in the blog. I had midterms and projects and things of that sort, and so I am sorry for the fact that there weren't that many posts last month. I managed 9 posts on here, with two reviews, and I actually read nine books as well. Overall, a pretty solid month! I've also upped my yearly challenge on Goodreads to 110, which I am really hoping to get to, so cross your fingers for me! Anyways, here we go with the wrap up!  

Queen of Shadows – Sarah J Maas
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(spoilers!) The queen has returned.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series contrinues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.
 

Queen Song (Red Queen Novella) – Victoria Aveyard 
☆☆1/2



Queen Coriane, first wife of King Tiberias, keeps a secret diary—how else can she ensure that no one at the palace will use her thoughts against her? Coriane recounts her heady courtship with the crown prince, the birth of a new prince, Cal, and the potentially deadly challenges that lay ahead for her in royal life.

Infinite In Between – Carolyn Mackler
☆☆☆

Printz Honor author Carolyn Mackler returns with this striking new novel that chronicles the lives of five teenagers through the thrills, heartbreaks, and joys of their four years in high school.

Zoe, Jake, Mia, Gregor, and Whitney meet at freshman orientation. At the end of that first day, they make a promise to reunite after graduation. So much can happen in those in-between years….

Zoe feels like she will live forever in her famous mother’s shadow. Jake struggles to find the right connections in friendship and in love. Mia keeps trying on new identities, looking for one that actually fits. Gregor thought he wanted to be more than just a band geek. And Whitney seems to have it all, until it’s all falling apart around her.

Echoing aspects of John Hughes’s The Breakfast Club, Carolyn Mackler skillfully brings the stories of these five disparate teens together to create a distinct and cohesive whole—a novel about how we can all affect one another’s lives in the most unexpected and amazing ways.

Everything, Everything – Nicola Yoon
 ☆☆☆☆1/2

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.
  

Better off Friends – Elizabeth Eulberg

For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

Fans of the Impossible Life – Kate Scelsa (2)
☆☆

Ten months after her recurring depression landed her in the hospital, Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby.

Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn, it’s as if he’s been expecting him.

Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him like a backlit halo. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and impromptu road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives.

As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.

A captivating and profound debut novel, Fans of the Impossible Life is a story about complicated love and the friendships that change you forever.
 

Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
 ☆☆☆☆

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy. 

Siege and Storm – Leigh Bardugo
☆☆☆☆☆

(spoilers!) Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm

Ruin and Rising – Leigh Bardugo
☆☆☆☆☆

(spoilers!) The capital has fallen.

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.


What did y'all read in September??

xx
Sunny 

top ten tuesday: romances

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish, where each week we highlight a different category of the bookish lifestyle. This week is a free week, and we can pick anything that we want to post about. I personally have been in a particularly swoony mood all week, so I chose to talk about my top ten favorite book romances. (keep in mind though that these are not necessarily my favorite book couples, I just enjoy their stories the most.) These are examples of events that made my put down the book and squeal from the adorableness, cry happy tears, or be sad because these are things that do not happen to normal people. Let's all appreciate the love here people.

1.Will and Tessa from The Infernal Devices Trilogy by Cassandra Clare. Clockwork Princess especially is just a riot of swoon-worthy moments, but really all three books are just golden for these two. To see Will grow from a distant and snarky boy to someone deeply in love is one of the most powerful changes in any book that I've read.  I'm also just partial to the fact that, no matter what, Will and Tessa need each other and, even when all seems hopeless, they can't help but have hope for each other. The epilogue of Clockwork Princess completely ruined me, it was so beautiful and indicative of the depth of love between the two.

2. Anna and Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. One of my favorite tropes in books is a friendship that grows into something more, and the way that Anna and Etienne do this is magical. They are two people who just seem to get one another, from the very beginning, and even though they're both unavailable for romance at the beginning, their relationship deepens to something more meaningful than either of them realize. Another favorite trope of mine is the idea of home being a person, and for Anna and Etienne, this is adorably wrought.

3. Macallan and Levi from Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg. This is the classic When Harry Met Sally syndrome of two friends who can't quite get the timing right to grow into something more. This book stretches through years, and the constant thing throughout those years is Macallan and Levi's unbreakable friendship. Though they both date other people in the story, it is clear to the reader that the only way they will ever work is if they're together. The rest of the time you're just waiting for they themselves to figure that out.

4. Lara Jean and Peter from To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. Lara Jean starts off the book by hiring Peter to be her fake boyfriend to prove that she is over someone in her past. However, as most fake-boyfriend situations do, Lara Jean and Peter grow from business partners to something more, something that is scary for the both of them to admit, even to themselves. They're a bit awkward, and that makes their story that much more adorable.

5. Tamlin and Feyre from A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. This is a recent release, which means that this story has to be REALLY good to make it into this top ten. However, I have always loved the story of beauty and the beast, of looking past stereotypes and first impressions to the person that lies underneath them, and Maas does this in an incredibly fresh, engaging and sexy way. Tamlin is a perfect match for Feyre (though we all love to hate Rhys) and though it takes them awhile to get there, their romance is sweeping and grand.

6. Emma and Mr. Knightley from Emma by Jane Austen. I have always loved Emma's romance, almost more than other Austen heroines'. The idea that Emma didn't have to marry, that she never planned to need anyone other than herself, but somehow found herself drawn to her older brother figure with a passion that surprises even her? Beautiful, in my opinion. Emma may be silly and a little bit vain, but Mr. Knightley knows this and everything else about her, and loves her anyway. There is a level of transparency between these two that only comes from years of friendship, and it is beautiful.

7. Paul and Marguerite from A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. Two people jumping through the multiverse makes for a complicated love story, especially when one of them is suspected of murdering the other's father, but that is what makes Paul and Marguerite so different and also amazing. Even though this story takes place in four different parallel universes, somehow Paul and Marguerite end up near each other in every single one. Their closeness is not only on a physical level, but also seemingly soul-deep. I love the idea that, even in different worlds, if two people are meant to be together, they will be.

8. Amy and Roger from Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. Amy and Roger have the slow burn type of romance that takes a while to get off the ground, but that makes the moment that it does so much better. They both have walls and secrets and things that they'd rather hide, but something about being in the car, driving cross-country alone tends to bring out the secrets in these two, and it is wonderful to watch them begin to trust and care for each other as the state lines pass under their wheels.

9. Isadora and Ry from The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White. Isadora and Orion (or Ry) are the definition of star-crossed lovers. Mixed up in ancient mythology, epic poetry and culture, these two start off as uneasy friends. It is clear from the beginning that Ry has feelings for Isadora, but for her it takes longer to let him in, past her hard exterior that is a product of her unusual childhood. The twist at the ending for these two is something that I want to read again and again.

10. Harper and David from Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. The idea of two people, sworn enemies, snarking and sassing each other until somehow, their feelings of hatred grow into something else is something that I will never tire of. For Harper, David is the last person that she would ever want to fall for, but when it actually starts happening (while in the background she fights a supernatural force, of course), it isn't so terrible? I adore this pair.

what are some of your favorite romances?

xx
Sunny

spotlight on: summer contemporaries

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the spotlight series is a monthly feature here at Stardust and Words, where we feature a different part of the bookish lifestyle each month! Last month's post, which was a guide to fantasy reads, can be found here. 

This month, being as it is the last month of school, is making me antsy for summer and everything that it brings. (especially the extra time that I can devote to reading lol) As I have said in a few other posts, in the spring and summer, I tend to be in the mood for cute contemporaries, and am always on the lookout for good ones. So this month, I thought it would be fun to spotlight some contemporaries for summer!

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These books are (with the exception of 1) exclusively set in summer or have to do with summer. This is not a comprehensive look at all my favorite contemporaries, just the ones for the hot months. Keep in mind that these are in no particular order, and that there can be multiple books included from a single author. (e.g. Morgan Matson writes amazing book, all her books happen to be set in summer, ergo, many a Morgan Matson on this list.)

1. Second Chance Summer – Morgan Matson

As the title suggests, this is a book that takes place over the course of one extraordinary summer. Taylor and her family take a summer-long vacation at the lakehouse where they used to spend all their summers, forcing Taylor to face some old friends and some old more-than-friends. Though the story definitely has elements of lightheartedness, young love, and friendship, it is by no means just a mindless, happy story. The characters face are hard truths, sickness, forgiveness and admitting wrongs. I love Morgan Matson's writing, and though this is not my number one favorite of hers, I still would give it a five star favorites rating.

2. Amy & Rogers Epic Detour – Morgan Matson

Like I said, I love Morgan Matson, and this is definitely my favorite novel of hers. I love Amy & Rogers with all of my heart. Like Second Chance Summer, there are elements of tragedy and hardship underneath the exterior of a fluffy summer romance. After Amy's Dad died in a car crash, her mother decides to pack up and move across the country, leaving Amy in charge of getting the car from California to Connecticut. But Amy hasn't driven since her father's accident. Enter Roger. Old family friend who needs to get to Pennsylvania and can drive. The two form a shaky bond, but as the miles pass, their relationship deepens and grows. I love road trip stories, and the details that Matson puts into this cross country collection of characters and experiences is amazing.

3. Since You've Been Gone – Morgan Matson

This is Morgan Matson's third and final novel, I promise. Since You've Been Gone is a story of best friends, and specifically, what happens when that best friend that you've come to depend on suddenly disappears, leaving only a list of bizarre instructions in her wake. When Emily's best friend Sloane does just that, Emily enlists the help of friends new and old to help her complete the list and find Sloane. This is the lightest of Matson's three novels, and probably the most fun and quickest. I loved the way the romance developed and the ways that Emily changed throughout the novel.

4. To All the Boys I've Loved Before – Jenny Han

Strictly speaking, the this book does not take place in summer. So, right here, on book four of this list, I've broken my rules for this post. But! This book is so cute and amazing and squee-worthy and I think of it in my head as a summer read, so I couldn't not include it on this list. This is the story of Lara Jean, who, over the course of her life, has never told her respective crushes that she likes them, only poured her heart out in love letters and stored them in her room. But when someone sends the letters, her world is turned upside down as one of her closest friends receives word or her secret crush and she enlists the help of a fake-boyfriend to throw her friend off. I love love love this story, it is so much fun and a definite must read for your summer.

5. My Life Next Door – Huntley Fitzpatrick

Definitely a quintessential summer read for me. Samantha and Jase are next door neighbors who, over the course of one summer, simultaneously get to know each other and fall in love. Though it isn't instalove, exactly, they do develop a relationship pretty early in the book, which is something that makes this different from a lot of other YA books that I've read. The story is about their relationship, how they overcome obstacles to stay together, rather than about the buildup to an eventual revelation of feelings that we see so often. It is cute and fluffy, to be sure, but it also felt relatable and real, especially because both families played a huge role in the entire story.

6. What I Thought Was True – Huntley Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick's other novel is a classic story, girl-from-wrong-side-of-tracks-meets-boy-from-right-side type affair. But it is also a lot darker than her other novel, dealing with more serious issues than My Life Next Door did. The romance also takes a lot longer to develop, but that doesn't make it any less sweet. Gwen and Cassidy are naturally at odds. Gwen cleans houses and Cassidy is a trust fund baby. But they also have a history, something that makes Gwen hate Cassidy for something even more than just the obvious disparity between their lifestyles. However, when Cassidy becomes the lawn boy for some of the houses Gwen cleans, the two, perhaps, have a chance to reconcile and maybe even fall in love.

7. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares

Pretty much every girl from the ages 10-35 found out about this book in 2005, when the movie based upon it came out. But just in case you missed it: four best friends, who have always spent their summers together, separate for the first time, going across the globe on respective trips. They find a pair of pants that, against all rules of science and humanity, fits all of them, and decide to send them back and forth over the summer. Amazing story, and the book is decidedly darker than the movie, with the girls having to grow up and deal with hard truths over the course of their summers. I love the emphasis on the fact that differences can make friendships stronger, as well as can distance, but in the end, it is you who makes your own decisions, and you who has to deal with their consequences.

8. Falling in Love with English Boys – Melissa Jensen

When Catherine's mom drags her across the pond so she can do research in London for the summer, she is less than thrilled. She has nothing to do except read the journal of Katherine Percival, written in 1815 and remarkably relatable to her own life. When Catherine meets William, who just so happens to be the descendant of the other Katherine, and also super cute, things start to get very interesting. This is told in alternating POVS, which is a definite change. One is Catherine's and one is Katherine's journal, and I definitely liked Catherine's portion of the story better, but by no means are the diary chapters bad or boring. This would be a quick and fun summer read for most.

9. This is What Happy Looks Like – Jennifer E. Smith

This is the book that we all wish would happen to us in real life. Graham is an uber-famous movie star, and he accidentally sends an email to Ellie, a small town girl living in Maine. This happy accident starts an email chain between the two of them, and it continues happily until Graham actually comes to Ellie's hometown to shoot a movie. Which, of course, is when everything gets complicated. I absolutely flew through this book, as it isn't very long and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. There are some "secrets" being hidden by characters, but I thought they were pretty transparent and wasn't surprised by any of the reveals. Still, this is cute, which is exactly what a summer book should be.

10. We Were Liars – E. Lockhart

Honestly, the less you know about We Were Liars going in, the better. I started this book knowing next to nothing about the premise, and that made it such a richer reading experience, because this book is kind of short, and being surprised by everything that was happening made it feel longer. This book definitely has a huge twist at the end, and it is much darker than any of the other contemporaries on this list. It does take place in summer though, it is just a different kind of summer than the rest of these. It is so good and so worth the surprise and mystery though.

11. The Truth About Forever – Sarah Dessen

There are a couple Sarah Dessen books that I could've put on this list, but to be honest, after I read five or six of them they all started to run together. The Truth about Forever is the one that I do really remember liking, and the only one that I have ever felt like rereading. This is the story of Macy, who has a dead father and a controlling boyfriend and a life that is falling apart. She takes solace, for the summer, in the chaotic world of Wish catering, surrounded by a colorful cast of characters and Wes, who is artistic and honest and strong. In the ensuing days of summer, Macy finds herself growing and changing, and doing things she never thought she would ever do. This is definitely my preferred Sarah Dessen novel, and it is quite perfect for reading whilst laying on a beach or by a lake somewhere.

12. 13 Little Blue Envelopes – Maureen Johnson

Honestly, it has been quite a while since I read this book, so all I remember about it is that a girl has an aunt who sends her envelopes with instructions in them, and said girl runs around, meeting different people, going to different places, following these instructions. And that it takes place over the summer. I've included it here because I do, in fact, remember enjoying the book as I read it, even if I don't remember many of the plot details, and also because it is very popular with many others on goodreads and in the blogging sphere.

13. On the Fence – Kasie West

Charlie has grown up around all men, and so she excels at sports, but not so much at communication. With her single dad, three brothers, and quasi-brother of a next door neighbor, she is happiest when playing some sort of sport. But when she gets a job at a boutique and starts to spend time around girls for really the first time in her adolescent life, she finds that there might be more to her than just one side. I loved that this book didn't put down girly girls for the sake of the tomboyish ones, or vice versa. I thought the romance was cute and the book as a whole was good, but Charlie accepting herself and realizing that she can be more than just one thing was the real victory of this story.

14. Prada and Prejudice – Mandy Hubbard

I adore Regency England, and I loved this take on Jane Austen's classic story. When Callie is on a school trip and takes a bad fall, she somehow wakes up in Jane Austen's England, and spends the majority of the rest of the book clumsily trying to survive that world. However, there are cute boys and good friends wherever you go, and that works in Callie's favor as she alternately crushes on and hates the arrogant Alex, a duke. This book! This book is so so cute! But it is also about accepting yourself and loving what you can bring to the table, instead of trying to change yourself to fit into other people's standards. Adorable with a good message- a beautiful thing.

15. Better off Friends  – Elizabeth Eulberg

Macallan and Levi have been best friends since they were kids. Everyone knows that they are a package deal, and they've always been there for each other. However, the fact that they're so close makes it hard for others, especially those with romantic interests in one of the two, to get close without feeling threatened. And then there's the problem of Macallan and Levi's own feelings for each other, which are confusing at best. This is the classic "can boys and girls be just friends" question, and I loved the whole ride. Macallan and Levi are so likable, and even when they can't seem to get it right between them, you still root for it to smooth itself out for the whole book, which takes place over many years and many summers, so I'm counting it in this list.




I hope you can read/swoon over some of these suggestions! What are some of your favorite summer-related books?

xx
Sunny