top ten tuesday: nameworthy characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish! This week's theme is "October 18: Ten Characters I'd Name A Child/Dog/Cat/Car/Etc. After -- we did this topic back in 2011 and thought it might be fun to revisit it...feel free to spin it how you need!" I love this topic! I already have a dog named after Hazel Grace Lancaster from TFIOS, so that is first on the list, but I do have a ton of other ones that I love!

1. Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars
2. Jo from Little Women
3. Percy from Percy Jackson and the Olympians
4. Arin from The Winner's Curse
5. Celaena from Throne of Glass
6. Alina from The Grisha trilogy
7. Laurent from Captive Prince
8. St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss
9. Inej from Six of Crows
10. Ani from The Goose Girl

what's on your list this week?

xx
Caroline

top ten tuesday: fall tv edition

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature over at the Broke and the Bookish, and this week's theme is: "September 6:  In honor of Fall Tv, do a tv-themed topic! Top ten favorite tv shows of all time, ten new shows coming out this Fall that are on my radar, tv shows I wish never got cancelled, tv shows I would recommend to book characters, books I wish would be tv shows, ten favorite shows from the late 90's or early 2000's, ten tv shows for every fantasy lover, etc." I AM SO PUMPED for fall shows to return, so I felt like I could do a hybrid book/tv theme this week. So here are five tv shows that I can't wait to get back on TV and five books that I wish I could make into a TV show. :)

Top Five Shows I Can't Wait to See Again

1. New Girl - aka my favorite show ever on all of television... ever. I cannot contain my excitement for season six!

 

 2. The Flash– The Best Science Dorks on TV!! Diverse cast and really nice family and found family relationships. Grant Gustin is the cutest person alive.

 

3. Shadowhunters – You guys KNOW I had to use the Malec kiss for this one. I suppose it is a bit of a cheat because I don't know exactly when this one is coming back, but I'm trash for it and not ashamed to admit it... <3 nbsp="" p="">

4. Supergirl– More amazing superheroes!! Superman is going to be on this season! Melissa Benoist is the other cutest person alive! GIRL POWER!

5. Brooklyn 99  – literal funniest shit on TV.

Top Five Books/Series that I wish were TV Shows

1. Percy Jackson and The Olympians by Rick Riordan – Don't hold it against me guys!!! If The Mortal Instruments can have a terrible movie and then come back as a *much better* TV show, then I have hope for PJO too.... I JUST WANT HIGH QUALITY PERCY OKAY??

2. Vicious by V.E. Schwab – Imagine with me a gritty antihero drama with a daredevil-esque aesthetic and some truly kickass characters. That is what I envision Vicious the TV show to be. Obviously, this is only one book, but I feel like they could easily make it into a show, especially in drawing out the backstories of the characters. 

3. Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – I'm thinking like, a little bit of Gossip Girl mixed with Atlanta as the backdrop, stirred in with some One Tree Hill/Dawson's Creek vibes but with more eclectic and diverse characters... an updated high school drama, if you will. I would watch the shit out of it

 

4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo– I'm sorry, but if you don't think this team of heisting teens, some of whom have superpowers, set against a beautiful high fantasy world would make an amazing show, I don't think I have anything to say to you.

 5. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer– I've talked to a bunch of people about how awesome of a series I think the Lunar Chronicles would be. If it had the right budget and the right vision from the people making it, I think that it would be a total smash

Whats on your list this week?

xx
Caroline

spotlight on: if... then

Hello and welcome to another Spotlight On post here at Stardust and Words! You can find the rest of the Spotlight Posts here :) This is a monthly feature hosted here, where each month I choose an aspect of the bookish existence and write a post about it! This month, I wanted to do something that I've seen on twitter a bunch of times. I chose a few books that are considered "super popular" around the blogging community, and chose some books that you might like, if you liked the popular choice. Which also works if you've read the suggested book but not the original :)  I hope that this gives y'all some suggestions for what to read next!

i hope you guys found this helpful!

xx
Caroline

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   

top ten tuesday: books for mythology nerds

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is: "April 12: Ten Books Every X Should Read (up to you! Examples: every history nerd, memoir lover, ballet lover, feminist, college student, etc etc.)" I chose to do my list for people who love mythology of all sorts– Greek/Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Indian, etc – because I am obsessed with mythology myself, always have been!

1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series– Rick Riordan 

Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and cover my bases here with the Rick Riordan series. Riordan is technically middle grade, but read one of his books without cracking up and then get back to me on that label. Percy is the OG demigod up in here: he's a bamf, even when he's like 12. This series has five books. If you haven't read it already... literally where have you been? One of my all time favorites EVER. 

2. The Heroes of Olympus Series – Rick Riordan

Just when you THINK you're done with Percy... NOPE. Uncle Rick gave us this beautiful and amazing and expansive follow up series of five books which follows Percy and Annabeth and Nico and Grover and our fave gods, then gives us some incredible new characters as well. Five books in this one also, a close runner up to the first series. 

3. Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Series– Rick Riordan

 This is Riordan's most recent addition to his canon of mythology, this one following Norse gods and demigods instead of the Greek/Roman/Egyptian ones that he has explored in the past. There is only one book out currently, with the second, The Hammer of Thor, coming out later this year. Though I did not fall directly in love with this one quite like I did with the Greek and Roman series, it was still AWESOME and hilarious, in true Riordan fashion. 

4. The Covenant Series– Jennifer L. Armentrout 

More Greeks, more demigods here, but YA instead of MG this time. This series is very similar to the Vampire Academy series, but I honestly love them both. I read Covenant before VA, and I seriously fell head over heels in love with the characters. Five books in this series, mythology less directly involved, more implied and effused. 

5. The Song of Achilles– Madeline Miller

The story of Achilles and Patroclus, from the time that they meet as youths, until both of their untimely demises in the Trojan war. (that's not a spoiler, it's literal, mythological fact) Sweet, adorable, cute, stabby... what more could you want? Patroclus is a cinnamon roll, too good, too pure for this world. Achilles is a sinnamon roll. This is all we need to know. 

 

6. The Chaos of Stars – Kiersten White 

Hello, Egyptian mythology! Welcome, take a seat here with your Greek and Norse counterparts. This is a standalone novel where the main character is the daughter of Isis, Egyptian goddess of marriage and many other things. This book is super romantic, and honestly pretty short, but definitely one of my faves. It could be a quick beach read for you this summer! 

7. Cruel Beauty – Rosamund Hodge

 I don't know if I'm cheating here, because honestly this isn't *about* Greek mythology, specifically. It is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. BUT! It is super interesting and different because there are elements of Greek and Roman culture woven into the tapestry of this fairy tale retelling. It is a lot more subtle than the rest of the books on this list, but it's beautiful and captivating, so I included it.

8. The Wrath and the Dawn – Renée Ahdieh

 Also don't know if this one is cheating... but I don't really care, because it feels like it belongs here, to me. This book is a retelling of 1001 Nights, which, in itself, is a little hazy over whether it is classified as a "classic book," a "legend," or a "myth." I like to think of it as a Middle Eastern, Persian myth, and this book has other elements of that culture as well. Gorgeous, gorgeous writing, beautiful characters, engaging plot. LOVE it. 

9. The Grisha Trilogy – Leigh Bardugo 

Though this is set entirely in a fantastical world called Ravka, there are definite influences of Russian culture upon it. There are also echoes of Russian myths, such as that of the Firebird, so if you're looking for something with definite allusions to Russian folklore, this is your book. Also, just a kickass series all around.

10. The Raven Boys Series – Maggie Stiefvater 

Here we come to the last book on our list, which includes some elements of Welsh mythology! Something new and different for us. I know there is like a cult following for this series, but I'm totally not caught up yet, I haven't read Blue Lily, Lily Blue yet!!! So no spoilers. I'm waiting til I get my hands on The Raven King to finish this series. 

I hope you enjoyed this list :) link me to your posts this week!

xx

Caroline

spotlight on: fantasy

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There is something that I've been wanting to bring to These Stardust Words for quite some time, and that is a spotlight series. every month, I want to take a different facet of the bookish lifestyle and highlight it. Be it genre, covers, shipping, writing styles, etc, every month there will be a different theme under our spotlight! 

For March, I want to spotlight a genre, and specifically fantasy. Usually I can manage one or two fantasy books a month before I feel myself slumping and have to go for a more contemporary feeling, but lately I have been tearing through some truly amazing fantasy, one after the other. 

Though I know fantasy is an acquired taste for some, I truly believe that there is a fantasy book or series out there for everyone. So in an attempt to lead those who are less fantastically-inclined in their reading choices to some magical worlds, I've included middle grade, young adult and adult selections. In the adult section, there are some picks for perhaps the more adventurous souls. 

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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.