Hello everyone and Happy New Year! For today's post I really wanted to do a New Year's related book tag and I found two that I really liked (Heather from Bookables New Year's Tag and Char Frears's New Year's Book Tag). However, I did not have an answer for every question in each so I made a hybrid of both book tags. Feel free to answer the questions in the comments section below as I would love to know your 2019 bookish goals. If you are curious to see mine then keep reading!

1. Do you set reading goals? If so, how many books do you want to read in 2019?

I set reading goals every year and the amount of book ranges depending on how busy I think my life will be that year. Since last year, I have been cutting my reading goal in half because I am in college and I do not have as much time to read as I used to. For 2019, my reading goal is 12 books. I want to read one book a month and hopefully read more during summer break when I have more time.

2. An author you’d like to read that you’ve never read before.

I have wanted to read Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng for years and I finally bought it in 2018. I have also been hearing nothing but incredible things about her sophomore novel, Little Fires Everywhere. My goal for 2019 is to read both of her novels and hopefully love them as much as everyone else.

Everything I Never Told You

Buy at Indigo and Amazon

Summary:

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart. James, consumed by guilt, sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to find a responsible party, no matter what the cost. Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is certain that the neighborhood bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it’s the youngest of the family—Hannah—who observes far more than anyone realizes and who may be the only one who knows the truth about what happened.

A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

Little Fires Everywhere

Buy at Indigo and Amazon

Summary:

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When the Richardsons' friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia's.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of long-held secrets and the ferocious pull of motherhood-and the danger of believing that planning and following the rules can avert disaster, or heartbreak.

3. A classic you’d like to read.

I'm absolutely in love with this Puffin in Bloom cover designed by Anna Bond, founder of Rifle Paper Co. I have been wanting to read more classics recently and I decided that I wanted to start with children's classics. I bought all the Puffin in Bloom editions in 2018 and I look forward to getting to all of them but especially Anne of Green Gables!

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Buy at Indigo and Amazon  

Summary:

Marilla Cuthbert and Matthew Cuthbert, middle-aged siblings who live together at Green Gables, a farm in Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island, decide to adopt a boy from an orphan asylum in Nova Scotia as a helper on their farm. Through a series of mishaps, the person who ends up under their roof is a precocious girl of eleven named Anne Shirley. Anne is bright and quick, eager to please but dissatisfied with her name, her pale countenance dotted with freckles, and with her long braids of red hair. Being a child of imagination, however, Anne takes much joy in life, and adapts quickly, thriving in the environment of Prince Edward Island.

4. A book you’d like to re-read.

I read A Darker Shade of Magic back in 2017 and I absolutely loved it. I planned on reading the second book right after but that never happened. Now, I have the second and thrid book in the trilogy and I really hope to read both this year! I want to reread A Darker Shade of Magic to refresh my memory as it is coming up two years since I have read it. 

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

Buy at Indigo and Amazon

Summary:

Kell is one of the last Travelers-magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes, connected by one magical city.

There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad King-George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered-and where Kell was raised alongside Rhys Maresh, the rougish heir to a flourishing empire. White London-a place where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, ambassador of the Maresh empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

5. A book you’ve had for ages and want to read.

The Nightingale is a book that has rave reviews since it came out and seems to be everyone's favourite book after they finish reading it. I have has this book on my shelf for over two years and I really want to get to it this year. 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Buy at Indigo and Amazon

Summary:

In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are.

France, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another. 

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

6. An author you’ve previously read and want to read more of.

I read Helen Hoang's debut novel The Kiss Quotient and I fell in love with it. When I heard she was turning this into a series I was so ecstatic! I cannot wait until this book comes out because I am already hearing amazing things about it which I am not suprised about since her first one is amazing!

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

Buy at Indigo and Amazon

Summary:

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.

As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.

7. A series you want to read from start to finish.

In 2017 I read Laini Taylor's most popular novels, the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. I really enjoyed them and after I finished them I planned on reading the Strange the Dreamer duology. I did not get to them in 2018 but I hope 2019 is the year I start and finish this series. I have heard nothing but AMAZING things about this series and everyone seems to give it a 5-stars so I am really looking forward to reading them both!

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Buy at Indigo and Amazon

Summary:
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around--and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old, he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the form of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? And who is the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams?

In this sweeping and breathtaking novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, the shadow of the past is as real as the ghosts who haunt the citadel of murdered gods. Fall into a mythical world of dread and wonder, moths and nightmares, love and carnage.

The answers await in Weep.

8. A series you want to finish that you’ve already started.

I have been reading the Harry Potter series since fall of 2017. I reread the first three books in the summer of 2018 and wrote detailed notes so I would not forget the events that took place within each book. I really, really, really need to get to the last four books in the series this year. It is going to be difficult during the school year because I like to write notes and the books get longer as the series go on but I will try my best! I'm really looking forward to completing this series as it has been on my bucket list for a while now. 

9. What book did you not get to this year but want to make a priority in 2019?

I keep planning to read this book every year but I keep putting it off because as much as I love reading historical fiction, particularly WWII novels, they are really difficult books to get through. I really want to read this book this year as I have wanted to read it for the past three years.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Buy at Indigo and Amazon

Summary:

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives.

10. One word that you're hoping 2019 will be: 

I hope you enjoyed today's post and it gave you some recommendations of books to read in the new year! Have a wonderful day and a fabulous week. I'll see you next week Friday with my Most Anticipated Releases of 2019!

Hello everyone! Long time, no write. I haven't posted in a month since I just started my last year of high school. I've just been settling into the new routine with all my new teachers, homework, and tests (yes, I've already had tests). I found some time to put together this post since I finished my homework early. I saw this original Tag created by Ariel Bissett on YouTube and I just had to do it. I hope you enjoy this post. Share your reading goals for the end of the year in the comments below!

1) Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

Summary:

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

~~~

What I have read so far of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor was amazing. I've always heard that her writing is so lyrical and that is so spot on. Her writing is full of intrigue and whimsy and so visually descriptive. It's so unique--unlike anything I've ever read before. I really hope to finish this as I am really enjoying this story.

2) Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

Summary:

Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life.

Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

~~~

I heard of An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson when I logged onto Goodreads and saw this review. I've heard this book be compared to A Court of Thorns and Roses and I definitely agree based on the summary. I love the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas so I have really high hopes for this book. It sounds very autumnal as Isobel is sent to the autumnlands. I love autumn so I can't wait to read a book that reflects the cozy atmosphere outside. 

3) Is there a new release you're still waiting for?

Summary:

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.

They’re right.

~~~

I read the Mara Dyer Trilogy back in 2015 and I just fell in love with it. It's what got me into fantasy books in the first place. I've been waiting for The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin since then and it's finally coming out 2 years later! Excited to read this and to see where this series goes! 

Summary:

The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.

Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

~~~

I cannot wait to read Without Merit by Colleen Hoover. I love Colleen Hoover so much. She is hands down my favourite contemporary romance writer. This book sounds very mysterious and different from her other books. I just bought it yesterday and already am very intrigued. I'll most likely finish this in 2-3 days like all my other Colleen Hoover books. Super excited for this one!!!

4) What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

Cheating a little as there are four books but I really hope to finish Harry Potter this year! I've read the first three books and I have been enjoying them so much. I've heard the books start getting scarier and larger (in size) after the third book. It would be so great if I finished this before Christmas so I can spend some of my Christmas break watching the movies! 

5) Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite book of the year?

I think Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas or Without Merit by Colleen Hoover could definitely become my favourite book of the year. These are two of my favourite authors so that's why I chose them for this question. I just finished reading Tower of Dawn and it is definitely a contender for first place. I guess we shall see but it will most likely be one of the two. 

6) Have you already started making reading plans for 2018?

Of course I have a 2018 reading list! I'm hoping to read 18 books next year as next year is 2018 and it sounds fitting. It's a lot less than I normally read in a year but since I have school and the homework is inevitably going to get harder I decided to set an easier goal for next year. I've even started making a list of the books I'm hoping to read next year. I'm super excited, as you can tell. I'll share my list with you at the beginning of next year. Hopefully, I finish most of them--if not all!

Thanks for reading today's post! I hope you all have a great day and a wonderful week ahead! See you next time.


love xena

1) What book is so happy and sweet that it warms your heart?

I read Anna and the French Kiss 2 years ago and I immediately fell in love. It's about a girl named Anna who is sent to boarding school in Paris. She meets some incredible people who easily become her friends and one of them her love interest. It talks about the struggles of adjusting to a new setting, making new friends, being in love for the first time, and discovering yourself. To this day, it is one of my favourite books of all time. It made me giddy, smile, and laugh. This is the best book for when you're in a reading slump. It's also apart of a trilogy and while I didn't really enjoy the second book I loved the third book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, which is also one of my favourite books. Definitely check this out as you will love it if you are a fan of romance!

2) What is your favourite book with a white cover?

I don't have a favourite book that has a white cover so I chose a book with a white cover that I am really looking forward to reading. Everything, Everything is about a girl who has a rare disease where she is allergic to the world. She has never left her house and the only people she knows are her mom and her nurse. But then one day a moving truck arrives next door delivering a family and a boy who she knows she's going to fall in love with. But if she's never been outside, how will they ever work? 

I think this sounds so incredibly different from other books I've read. It is also a diverse read as the main character is half African-American and half Japanese which is a very nice and refreshing change from other books that usually only feature one race. I really hope to get around to reading this early next year. 

3) You're sitting in a nice comfy chair, wearing a onesie, with a lovely warm hot chocolate but what MONSTER read are you reading?  

I chose Empire of Storms for this question as it is almost 700 pages... I finished this book last week and I loved it. I have been binge-reading all of Sarah J. Maas's books these past two months and I'm all caught up. It was such an incredible installment to this series and I still can't get over that ending. I don't want this to end but the last book is coming out next year! *cries in a corner* If you haven't read this series and you love fantasy and romance then definitely, definitely read this. You will not be sorry.  

4) It started snowing so you decided to have snowball fight! What fictional character would you love to have a snowball fight with?

Rhys Rhys Rhys times a million!! This book just blew me out of the water. A Court of Mist and Fury is my favourite book I've read this year and has become an all-time favourite as well. I love love love Rhysand in this book and seeing a side of him that he doesn't show off to anyone else but his friends and Feyre. He is funny, charming, honest, loving, protective... just everything!!! I could talk about him for hours on end, seriously. He is the best male character I've ever read. Also, this fan art of Rhysand by Merwild is absolutely stunning! They captured his violet eyes, black hair, and muscular build perfectly. I cannot stop looking at it. Anyways...long story short, I would love to have a snowball fight with him because of all these reasons.

5) Sadly, your fire is beginning to go out. So what book would you tear the last few chapters out to throw into the fire?

Unpopular opinion coming...I would sacrifice The Darkest Minds in a fire. Lots of hype surrounded this book so I was actually really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I wasn't all that pleased with this book. While the concept of an America where a disease kills most of its children and the ones that survive accumulate powers is very creative and intriguing, the book fell a bit short in my opinion. I decided right after reading this that I would not continue on with this series. Now months later, I'm reconsidering this decision and thinking about giving the next book, Never Fade, a second chance. We'll see if I get around to reading this and if I actually end up enjoying it I might even finish this trilogy.

6) What book is so close to your heart that you would gift to someone this Christmas who hasn't read before but wants to get into reading?

Me Before You is a wonderful book for someone who wants to get into reading. The words aren't too challenging and the writing is so vivid that you can just picture everything perfectly in your mind. It's a sweet and emotional read and was actually made into a movie this year. I went to see Jojo Moyes who came to Canada for a book signing which was such an incredible experience as I've never been to one before. This book is wonderful for young adults and teens alike and it would make a great Christmas gift. 

Original tag started by JackEatsLife.

I tag Suzette from suzetteroberts.com

I hope you enjoyed my post today. I also hope you had a great week, have a Happy Friday, and a wonderful weekend! 

love xena