July Book Subscription Unboxing (BOTM & BookCase.Club)

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These are the books that I got in subscription boxes this month.

Book Of The Month:

Final Girls by Riley Sager. This is about three woman who are all the lone survivors of mass murder attacks. One day the first final girl ends up commiting suicide and the other ends up at the door of the third final girl. But is everything as it seems or is there more to the story?

The Child by Fiona Barton. While demolishing a building in London, workers find the skeleton of a baby. While trying to uncover the identity of the baby, journalist Kate discovers a connection with something that happened decades earlier where a baby was kidnapped from a local hospital and never returned.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I haven’t even read Gone Girl yet but I had to get this when I saw it as a book extra. Libby witnesses the murder of her mother and two sisters and testifies in court that her teenage brother is the murderer. Twenty five years later, she meets with a group of amateur investigators who believe that her brother is innocent.

BookCase.Club:

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin. Tessa is the only victim who survives the attack of a serial killer and her testimony puts him on death row. Decades later, Black-Eyed Susans are planted by her bedroom window and she begins to wonder if she put the wrong man in prison. 

Broadchurch by Erin Kelly. This is a novel that was adapted from a UK series. An eleven year old boy is found murdered on the beach and while investigating, it’s discovered that the town has many secrets that they would rather not have exposed.

I’m really looking forward to reading these. Maybe I’ll save them for Halloween time, lots of murder and mystery! 

Keep reading…Lola

Hollow City Spoiler Free Review 

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Hollow City by Ransom Riggs is the sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children. This review will be spoiler free for Hollow City but will contain spoilers of you haven’t read the first book.
Hollow City picks up right where Miss Peregrine left off. After fleeing Miss Peregrine’s time loop, Jacob and the Peculiars along with Miss Peregrine in bird form hop into boats and go in search of a new time loop. They get stuck in a bad storm and land on a beach where they decide to take their chances in the forest since wights are trying to track them. They wander until they find a statue from The Tales Of The Peculiar, a book that they have been carrying with them. There they find a time loop and escape into it, finding it full of Peculiar animals. They learn that their Ymbryne, Miss Wren has gone to London hoping to rescue other Ymbrynes. The children head there in hopes that Miss Wren can turn Miss Peregrine back before her human self is lost forever.

There are a few new characters introduced in this book. They briefly meet Sam and discover that she is a Peculiar, as she can suffer bad injuries and be ok. They meet Joel and Peter who are twins and seem to share one mind. They also meet Melina who has Telekinetic powers. Melina has a Peculiar pigeon that they believe will lead them to Miss Wren. They eventually find her hiding in a building covered in a thick coat of ice where she works to free Miss Peregrine. 

I enjoyed the continued romance between Jacob and Emma. Even though it’s kind of weird that she was in a relationship with his grandfather Abe, I still thought it was sweet and I’m really rooting for them.

This book was more action packed then the first one I think. It seemed like there was hardly a moment for them to just relax and live without having to run for their lives and have them in some kind of peril.

I also really enjoyed the arrival of the gypsies. They were a surprise that I wasn’t expecting and the fact that they had a Peculiar boy with them made it even better. My heart broke when he was saying how he was afraid that he would be left behind once he was completely invisible and nobody would know. Millard really warmed my heart when he talked to him.

I was really shocked by the ending of this one. Even though I knew there was a third book, I didn’t expect what happened to happen but it was quite good. I can’t wait to finish this trilogy and see how it all ends.

I loved this book just as much as the first one and gave it 5 stars as well. Can’t wait to read the next one.

Keep reading…Lola

BOOKTUBE-A-THON TBR 2017

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So I decided a little last minute to participate in the 2017 BOOKTUBE-A-THON. It’s hosted by ArielBissett on Youtube and it goes from July 24th – July 30th. There are 7 reading challenges. There are also video and Twitter challenges so check out Ariel’s YouTube video if you want to know more.

1. Read a book with a person on the cover.

I chose the Frozen Junior Novelization. I loved the movie and picked the book up on a whim and figured this would be a good time to read it.

2. Read a hyped book. I picked Heartless by Marissa Meyer because it’s really the only hyped book on my shelf that I haven’t read yet.

3. Finish a book in one day. For this I chose The Grownup by Gillian Flynn. I’ve had this book for months and it’s so short but I just haven’t picked it up for some reason.

4. Read about a character that is very different from you. I decided to read Pocahontas: A Life In Two Worlds by Victoria Garrett Jones. I have been wanting to read this and the booktube-a-thon is the perfect time to do so. 

5. Finish a book completely outside. I’m going with Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde The Graphic Novel by Stevenson, Kimowski and Schejbal. It’s the only graphic novel I own that I haven’t read yet and I think it would be a good quick read for outside.

6. Read a book you bought because of the cover. For this I chose Beauty And The Beast. This is the movie tie-in and I love the cover, which is the main reason that I bought it.

7. Read 7 books. I chose Survivors: Titanic 1912 by Kathleen Duey and Karen A. Bale. I’ve been wanting to read this but there just always seems to be other books I want to read more.

I chose a lot of smaller books just because I figured they would be easier to get through and because most of them are books that would probably stay on my TBR for a while otherwise.

I’m very excited to participate this year and to read these books. If you’re participating Good Luck!

Keep reading…Lola

Netflix Book Tag

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This is the Netflix book tag. I Love Netflix and I love book tags and I’ve been seeing this one around BookTube so I decided to do it.

The original tag came from Darker Shade Of Whitney on YouTube.

1. Recently watched~ The last book you finished reading-

Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart. I enjoyed it a lot but it was much different from the movie, which I saw years ago. I definitely cried a few times.

2. Top picks~ A book/books that have been recommended to you based on books you have previously read-

Thinner by Stephen King. This is the only book recommended to me on Goodreads that I’m actually interested in reading. Image by Google.

3. Recently added~ The last book you bought-


Final Girls by Reily Sager. I put myself in a book buying ban so I haven’t bought any books for a few months but I have been getting my book subscription boxes (which are prepaid for the year). This was the last book I picked out of the last box so technically it’s the last book I bought!

4. Popular on Netflix~ Books that everyone knows about (2 you’ve read and 2 you have no interest in reading)-


The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I loved this series and have a spoiler free review up and also a spoiler blog post where I talk about the fairy tale elements. Caraval by Stephanie Garber. I read this and really enjoyed it. I have a spoiler free book review up on my page if you’re interested. Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. I know I’m in the minority here but this just isn’t a series that I want to pick up at all. I didn’t enjoy the movie and I don’t care for the show (I watched about 5 episodes) so I just don’t have the desire to read the books. Throne Of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I’ve seen a lot of reviews and it just doesn’t really interest me at all City Of Bones and Throne Of Glass images from Google.

5. Comedies~ A funny book-

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. I feel like I have been talking about this book non stop since I read it. George was hilarious and Jase made me laugh too.

6. Dramas~ A character who is a drama queen/king-

Becky Bloomwood from Confessions Of A Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. Although I enjoy the books that I’ve read so far, she is by far the most annoying dramatic character I have ever read about. Major drama queen.

7. Animated~ A book with cartoons on the cover-

Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer. I loved the colors they went with in this one. Not what I would assume they would be but it was different.

8. Watch it again~ A book/book series that you want to reread-

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I tried to be good and pick something else that I would reread but I couldn’t. I just love this book so much and could never get sick of rereading it.

9. Documentaries~ A non-ficton book you’d recommend to everyone-

Welcome To My World by Johnny Weir. This was an incredible autobiography and I think even people who are not fans of figure skating would enjoy it.

10. Action and Adventure~ An action packed book-

Winter by Marissa Meyer. This book is just filled with non stop action. There is always something going on, someone running for their lives, some fight, something happening. It’s definitely a wild ride.

11. New releases~ A book that just came out or will be coming out soon that you can’t wait to read-

Caraval #2 by Stephanie Garber. I haven’t been able to find out a title or cover or even a release date but I can’t wait for this one. The cover is the UK version (I think) of the first book. Wires And Nerve Volume Two by Marissa Meyer. This one is called Gone Rogue and that’s the cover and I think it’s expected to be released in January 2018. Both images I got from Google. I also read that there is going to be a new trilogy by Ransom Riggs that follows the peculiars to America and that the first book is expected in Fall 2017. Not sure how true it is since I haven’t been able to find a release date but I hope it’s true because I would definitely jump on that band wagon! 

That’s the Netflix Book Tag. I tag everyone who wants to do it.

Keep reading…Lola

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children Spoiler Free Review

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Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is a young adult dark fantasy novel.

Jacob Portman grew up listening to his grandfather’s stories about growing up in a children’s home in Cairnholm, a Welsh island where all the children have peculiarities and their head mistress, Miss Peregrine turns into a bird. As Jacob gets older he begins to doubt the stories until one night he finds his grandfather near death who tells him to “go to the loop and find the bird” and then he dies. Jacob and his father make the trip so that Jake can see the orphanage and his father can takes pictures of birds for his book. When he finally gets to the house and meets the Peculiar children, he realizes that his grandfather was in fact telling the truth.

First off, I loved the characters. Miss Peregrine is a Ymbryne and can turn into a Peregrine Falcon as well as manipulate time, which allows the children to live in the time loop, Jacob is the only one who can see Hollowgasts, which are creatures that hunt and kill peculiars, Emma can make fire with her hands, Millard is an invisible boy, Bronwyn has superhuman strength, Claire has a mouth on the back of her head, Enoch can use the hearts of other creatures to restore life for a time, Olive can levitate, Fiona can make plants grow or die, Hugh has bees that live in his stomach and Horace has dreams of the future. This is such a diverse set of characters and I’ve always loved reading books where characters have special abilities.

I thought the whole story was so original and unlike anything that I have ever read before. The fact that Ransom Riggs wrote the book around the photos that he collected is just incredible and I’m looking forward to reading more by him.

I loved all the pictures that were used throughout the book. Some of them were really creepy and they just added a little something extra to the reading experience.

I enjoyed the action as well. Once Jacob gets to Miss Peregrine’s and starts to interact with the Peculiars things progress from there and more and more stuff happens. I liked that there is a bit of suspense along the way. You never really know what is going to happen until it does.

I loved seeing the bond that the children had with each other. They were family and looked after one another. For the most part, they also accepted Jacob as if he was part of the family as well.

I gave this book 5 stars and can’t wait to continue on with the series.

I’m going to stop here before I give too much away but be sure to look out for my review of Hollow City, book two coming up soon.

Keep reading…Lola

The House Spoiler Free Review

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I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not entirely sure when this book is going to be released because I have seen August 17, 2017 and November 2, 2017 but November 2nd seems to be the one I see most.

The House by Simon Lelic follows Jack and Syd. They bought a house and at the start of the novel someone has been murdered almost at their back door. The police start looking at them and they begin to write down the events that lead to their current situation.

When I started this book I thought it was going to be a haunted house type of story but it wasn’t at all. In fact the story didn’t have anything to do with the house in the slightest. This is a mystery/thriller/suspense type of story and it was so good.

I really liked that the story was told by both Jack and Syd. You saw both sides and I thought it was interesting that when one of them misunderstood, the other kind of set them straight. I also enjoyed the dynamic between the two. Syd had more of a tough childhood and upbringing and Jack was close with his parents. I think Jack brings out the softer side in Syd and they complement each other very well.

I loved the story of Elsie. It made the story richer I think. It also made Syd a softer character, but in a different way than Jack made her soft because she was reminded of her sister and I think that made her a different person. I think that had Elsie not been a part of the story, Syd might have been entirely different.

The suspense was amazing. There were a few times that I actually got creeped out and had to turn a light on. It was a little like watching a horror movie and I loved it.

I liked the pace in which everything was exposed. I didn’t feel like anything was just thrown in there with no explanation. I was also happy with the reveal at the end. There were a couple times when I thought I knew who the murderer was but I was wrong. I wasn’t shocked by the reveal because I kind of saw where the story was going in the end but I was still happy with where it went.

I gave The House 4 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of mystery and suspense.

Keep reading…Lola

My Life Next Door Spoiler Free Review 

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The Garretts and the Reeds have lived next door to each other for 10 years but have never interacted. The Garretts have 8 kids and are loud and messy while The Reeds are a quiet and proper family of 3. Samantha Reed sits out on her roof and watches the Reeds and wishes that she could be a part of a family like that. One night Jase Garrett climbs up on her roof and Samantha’s life is chaneed forever.

I absolutely loved this book, so much more than I thought I would. I’m not even sure that I have anything I didn’t like except that I wish it never ended!

First, let’s talk about Jase and Samantha. I loved this couple so much. I thought they were so mature for 17 year olds. I’ve read books about married couples and all that surrounds them is drama and they act like children. It was so nice to read about a couple, especially a teenage couple who didn’t have a relationship that was surrounded by drama. They had their bump in the road, every couple has them but it wasn’t this long drawn out thing and it wasn’t this ongoing issue. There are so many books that I’ve read, not just young adult but adult as well where the couple is just arguing or breaking up and getting back together every other chapter and it just gets old. Jase and Samantha’s love story was a breath of fresh air. I loved watching them fall in love. Their relationship was so sweet and fun. Jase and Samantha are definitely one of my newest favorite couples.

I loved how Huntley Fitzpatrick portrayed virginity and losing it. I feel like in YA most of the time when the topic of sex comes up it’s just “have you done it?” “When are you going to do it?” Or “I’ve done it.” When it comes to having sex for the first time it’s almost always, they kiss and then there is something like a shirt gets unbuttoned or the boy asks the girl if she’s sure, but there is never really a conversation, it just happens. In My Life Next Door, Jase and Samantha talk about it and they go together to buy protection, which I very rarely read about in books at all. The act itself, although the author doesn’t go into great detail, she definitely shows the awkwardness and nervousness of a first time and makes it seem like this couple could be any teenage couple about to lose their virginity to each other and it just made their relationship seem all the more real. Let’s face it, teenagers have sex and nothing will change that so why not make it as real as possible in books especially topics like protection and being ready.

I also really enjoyed the family aspect. The novel shows two very different families. Samantha’s mother is the mayor and she expects Samantha and her sister Tracy to be these upstanding citizens who never make mistakes, especially in front of other people. She doesn’t like the Garretts even though she has never really tried to get to know them. She hates that they have toys and bikes all on their lawn and she is absolutely disgusted by how many kids they have. Yes, I understand that she has an image that she needs to maintain but she also has two teenage daughters who she wants to act the way she wants them to basically not be their own person. Jase’s parents on the other hand don’t care what people think about them. They care about their family and want their kids to be themselves and wants whatever makes them happy. These are definitely two families that many people could see their own families in and I really liked that.

I also liked the friendships. I loved the bond that Tim had with Jase and Samantha at the end. It was a friendship that grew naturally and at a slower pace, it wasn’t just nothing and then they were best friends. I even surprisingly enjoyed Samantha’s friendship with Nan. Starting out they were the best of friends but then slowly grew apart. They definitely had some tense moments and their friendship was true for a lot of friendships out there. Not every friendship is perfect and fun and people have fights and grow apart and some people find their way back to each other and others just move on. That’s part of life and I loved that this book explored that a little bit.

This review is already so long so I’m just going to mention one more thing I loved. GEORGE. Jase’s 4 year old brother George. He was so cute and funny and he really gave the book some comic relief even in the intense situations. I love when a book brings in side characters that you love.

My Life Next Door made me laugh out loud as well as cry. It was everything in a book that I really enjoy. Love, fun, light, intense all wrapped into one amazing read. I could not put this down and read it in one day. Highly recommend this book. 5 stars!

Keep reading…Lola


July TBR

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These are the books I’m planning to read in July.


The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich.

Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart.

Summer In The City by Robyn Sisman.

Shopaholic Ties The Knot by Sophie Kinsella. 

Can’t wait to start these books.

Keep reading…Lola

June Wrap Up

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These are the books that I read in June and it was such a good month!


The House by Simon Lelic. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. That review will be up in the next couple of weeks. It is set to be released on November 2, 2017.

And We’re Off by Dana Schwartz. This was a Book Of The Month extra and it’s about a teenager who gets to spend the summer in Europe traveling and attending an art school, all paid for by her grandfather and at the last minute her mother decides to join her. I gave it 4 stars and really enjoyed it. It was a really good summer read.

On The Fence by Kasie West. This is a really sweet YA read. It follows Charlotte “Charlie” who live’s with her father and older brothers. Her mother died when she was young and she grows up playing sports and being a sort of Tom boy. She discovers secrets about her past all while falling for the boy across the fence, who has been a part of the family for so long he was treated like a 4th brother. I gave it 5 stars and highly recommend it especially if you are a Kasie West fan.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. I loved this book. I will have a review up next week so look out for it if you want to know more.

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. This was a great summer read. Amy hasn’t driven a car since her father died, so when her mother decides to move from California to Connecticut it’s up to Amy to get the car to their new house. Since she doesn’t drive Roger, an old family friend agrees to drive since he is spending the summer with his father in Pennsylvania. When Amy and Roger decide they don’t like the route her mother has mapped out for them, they decide to take a detour and the road trip takes them to places they never would have imagined. I gave this 5 stars.

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. This is the first book in the Miss Peregrine trilogy. I gave it 5 stars and fell in love.

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs. This is the sequel and I loved this one even more I think. It also received 5 stars and reviews for both books will be coming up. I just wish I had bought the final book before my book buying ban!

Those are the books I read and I enjoyed every single one of them. I can’t wait to see what happens in July.

Keep reading…Lola

My YA Reading Club Unboxing-June

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I thought I’d give this box a try for a couple of months to see how I like it. It’s the My YA Reading Club Box for June. For $14.99 a month you get two YA books and a DVD.

*I usually only post on Tuesdays and Saturdays but I wanted to get this up in June. Enjoy!

The Books:

For The Win by Cory Doctorow. This centers on multiplayer role-playing online games. It delves into macroeconomics and labor rights. It also covers the fast evolving concept of virtual economy and deals with MMORPG specific topics like power-leveling and gold farming. From what I understand it brings up the way third world countries are made to work and develop these games with no credit and very little compensation. 

The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel. This is about five teenage cousins who are still at the kid table during holidays and such and are contented until the oldest cousin gets upgraded to the adult table, and main character Ingrid wonders what it takes to move on from the kid table. As she tries to find out the meaning of adulthood she also falls in love for the first time, but with the boyfriend of one of her cousins.

The DVD:

Grace Is Gone starring John Cusack. This follows a man who finds out that his wife has been killed in Iraq, and unable to tell his young daughters about her death, he takes them on a road trip to Florida searching for the right time and place to tell them about their mother.

I’m looking forward to each of these books and also the movie. I have never heard of it but have been a fan of John Cusack’s previous works.

Keep reading…Lola