best of 2016

10 Books From 2016 Still Out In the Cold

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

This list could probably go on for miles. I didn't need a topic like this to remind me just how much I haven't read yet. But here we are. These 2016 releases are shaking from being left on those bookshelves so long, right next to those 2011 releases I've still not read, who probably have hypothermia by now. (That explains why the covers are so blue.)


Top Ten Tuesday is created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is: Top Ten 2016 Releases We Meant to Read But Didn't Get to.

In all honesty, this is the post telling myself that I need to get on it. I went back to last year's post: Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant to But Didn't and found that I've only read two books in that list last year. That's a fail. However, with new year's comes positive outlooks and I've started the year off right so let's get this list read!


And I Darken by Kiersten White (6/28/16): I didn't know this one was coming out. I loved Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series so by default, I got this book. I've been hearing mixed reviews about it but I'm hoping for the best.

Shade Me by Jennifer Brown (1/19/16): Way back when this blog was just a figment of my imagination, I read The Hate List by Jennifer Brown. Something in that book moved me. And now I own all her books but I've only ever read The Hate List. I would say I am quite behind.

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron (9/13/16): I only recently put this on my list because some bloggers listed The Forgetting as their best book of 2016. I want to see what the hype is about, considering I never heard about this book before.


A World Without You by Beth Revis (7/19/16): The synopsis is so intriguing. And time travel, which may or may not be happening. It sounds so interesting and I still haven't cracked the spine.

The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead (4/5/16): Despite my feelings about Soundless, Richelle Mead is an amazing author and so I was looking forward to reading this new series. I just need more time to read it.

Empire of Dust by Eleanor Herman (6/28/16): The sequel I twiddled my thumbs for and when it came, I put it on my shelf and went on. I don't even remember what happened in Legacy of Kings so a reread is in order, so I can begin this one.


Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (9/20/16): I saw this one in the store and I still have no clue what it is about. It's fantasy and a goal of mine this year and last is to read more fantasy.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (11/8/16): I just finished Winter and Stars Above so it's time for some Alice in Wonderland retelling! I'm really excited about this one and since I received this one for Christmas, I am all set in bringing in the new year with an awesome retelling.

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman (2/9/16): This was one of my anticipated reads in 2016 and I didn't read it. However, after reading tons of reviews about how this book is a retelling of Black Beard without the pirates, I'm beginning to wonder if I would like it. Only one way to find out.


Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (3/8/16): I've been waiting for this one for a long time and when it finally came out, I went right out and got it. However, since I have still have to finish the last books of both the Mortal Instruments series and the Infernal Devices series, I can't start another series of Clare's yet.

What books are you playing catch up with in the new year?

best of 2016

10 Books that Santa Brought Me

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Happy New Year! It is officially 2017; can you believe it? I have so much faith in this amazing new year-- I think this year will be, not only a fantastic year for me personally but also, reading wise I think it will be the best one in a long time! With a Goodreads challenge goal of 80 books this year, I start the new year very optimistic. And looking at all the amazing books Santa brought me this year (I guess last year now), I cannot wait to read them all and surpass my new year goals.


Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything.

Edward "Teach" Drummond, son of one of Bristol's richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There's just one problem: convincing his father to let him leave and never come back.

Following her parents' deaths, Anne Barrett is left penniless and soon to be homeless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks, and Anne longs for escape. How will she ever realize her dream of sailing to Curaçao—where her mother was born—when she's stuck in England? 

From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn to each other, they’re trapped by society and their own circumstances. Faced with an impossible choice, they must decide to chase their dreams and go, or follow their hearts and stay. | Goodreads

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

In a kingdom by the sea…

In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.

A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.

Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.

Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?

The darkly magical world of Shadowhunters has captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the globe. Join the adventure in Lady Midnight, the long-awaited first volume of a new trilogy from Cassandra Clare. | Goodreads

My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins. Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Year's there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love. | Goodreads

Summer Days And Summer Night by Stephanie Perkins

Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Featuring stories by Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina LaCour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, and Jennifer E. Smith. | Goodreads

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end. | Goodreads

Unforgiven by Lauren Kate

It’s the book FALLEN fans have been waiting for: Cam’s story, the brooding, bad-boy dark angel readers love.

High school can be hell.

Cam knows what it’s like to be haunted. He’s spent more time in Hell than any angel ever should. And his freshest Hell is high school, where Lilith, the girl he can’t stop loving, is serving out a punishment for his crimes.

Cam made a bet with Lucifer: he has fifteen days to convince the only girl who really matters to him to love him again. If he succeeds, Lilith will be allowed back into the world, and they can live their lives together. But if he fails…there’s a special place in Hell just for him.

Tick-tock.

Spread your wings and cry as bad boy dark angel Cam finally reveals his anguished heart in the epic new FALLEN novel, UNFORGIVEN. | Goodreads

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air. 

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. 

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia. 

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie? | Goodreads

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into a secret courtship.

Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans. | Goodreads

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

For nearly twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland’s majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones... about a love that transcends the boundaries of time... and about Jamie Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his.
 
Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire’s spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart... in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising... and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves. | Goodreads

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

In Why Not Me?, Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it's falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you're constantly reminded that no one looks like you. 

In "How to Look Spectacular: A Starlet's Confessions", Kaling gives her tongue-in-cheek secrets for surefire on-camera beauty, ("Your natural hair color may be appropriate for your skin tone, but this isn't the land of appropriate-this is Hollywood, baby. Out here, a dark-skinned woman s traditional hair color is honey blonde.") "Player" tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. ("I had been replaced by a younger model. And now they had matching bangs.") In "Unlikely Leading Lady", she muses on America's fixation with the weight of actresses, ("Most women we see onscreen are either so thin that they're walking clavicles or so huge that their only scenes involve them breaking furniture.") And in "Soup Snakes", Kaling spills some secrets on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and close friend, B.J. Novak ("I will freely admit: my relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell.") 

Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who's ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to. And those who've never been at a turning point can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper. | Goodreads

What books did Santa bring you?

best of 2016

7 Blog and Bookish Goals for 2017

Saturday, December 31, 2016

There has been a countless stream of posts around the blogosphere of goals and resolutions for the new year. Originally, I wanted to do Jamie’s End of the Year Survey, like I did last year. It was so much fun to put together. However, I simply didn’t read enough books for it to really balance all the best-of questions and statistics. Therefore, I made a list of goals that hopefully will be accomplished by the end of 2017. Here’s 7 bookish and blog goals for 2017:


Read 80 Books

This goal is extremely optimistic, considering I only read 34 books this year. However, I feel I can do it. I have the will to succeed! I used to read up to 60 and possibly 70 books but that was in high school. Still, I am over my reading slump and into reading mode so as long as I keep my eye on the goal, I think there should be no problem.

Clean up the Blog

This should not even be a goal. I should clean The Bucket List without having to make it a goal, right? However, when I have the choice to go through thousands of broken links or write that new blog post—I am always going to choose that new blog post. Cleaning up around The Bucket List needs to become a priority for me so putting it on the goal list will definitely become the first step in what I need to continue to make time to do just that. Excuse me, while I dust off the shelves and wash those old posts right up.

robin williams cleaning mrs doubtfire seora doubtfire

May Move Blog Over to Wordpress

Has everyone left me for Wordpress? In the past year, I played around with a new blog—a travel and lifestyle blog—over at Wordpress and as much as I decided blogging about books is most definitely my niche, I enjoyed working on the Wordpress interface. Though moving six years’ worth of awesome would take time and possibly money, I may take the plunge in changing. I haven’t fully made up my mind in that department yet. I need to do more research but if I am moving, it will be in 2017.

Finish at least 5 – 10 Series

I have a problem with finishing series. I don’t like endings or sequel syndrome or seeing precious characters die. Just no.

I have a gazillion series to finish that have long since completed or will be finishing soon and I am still on book one. In 2017, I am definitely getting on the series wagon and reading so many series. I even picked out 5 series that I want to start (and finish!) next year:


Get On the Bookstagram Train

I’ve known that bookstagram was a thing for quite some time now. And after doing a test run this month of December, I have decided to join in the bookstagram community. Next year I will try to kick it up a notch with more photo challenges, as well as more content. I never knew taking pictures of books could be so much fun. Literally, I spend hours doing this and I can say it is one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Follow me on Instagram for awesome book pics like this:


Change Review Style

I talked about this a while ago in that my review style will be changing. I feel that over the past few years, my style has gotten a bit too formal and less conversational and that is definitely not where I was intending to go. It got to the point that I would dread writing reviews because I was even bored writing them. So I figured, you were probably bored of reading them. It took me this whole month of research and analyzing, and taking Paper Fury’s quiz of what kind of reviewer you are to figure out a style that worked for me. A style that, now, seemed so obvious to begin with. Lists. Bullet Points. Gifs. Things that I love that I never thought I would make a book review out of but it is happening and it will be awesome.

Conquer TBR or die trying

This is another optimistic goal. I remember back in 2008 when I just had a small trunk full of TBR books. I didn’t buy any more books until the pile was down enough that I could close the trunk. It was a lovely system I had going on. I don’t know what happened. That trunk now houses my DVDs and my books have found their way on three full bookshelves.

My TBR is beyond out of control and 2017 is the year I am going to attack and conquer. It will either be in the form of reading or a total clean out of books that I will never read. This will be hard, considering I don’t want to let go of my books. However, the TBR will be conquered or I will suffocate under the pile of books.


Happy New Year! What are your goals for the new year?