Two Year Blog Anniversary for Olivia Chanel’s Galaxy of Books!

April 6, 2018April 6, 2018 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hi there, galaxy travelers! I hope you’re all doing okay. As the title of the post suggests, today is the two year anniversary of my book blog, Olivia Chanel’s Galaxy of Books. I can barely believe it’s been two years already, it has been a blast. The posts I’ve written, the books I’ve read, and the authors I’ve interviewed and met, it has been an amazing experience. Also, did you guys notice my new layout on the blog? Tell me what you think? I felt that after two years I really needed something new and I want to hear your thoughts on it.

Moreover, I know I have been a bit MIA lately, mostly because of University and the massive workload that comes with it. However, I am still at it and am working on blog posts and book news I hope you’ll all enjoy. If you’re waiting on something from me, you hopefully won’t have to wait for too long.

For this blog post, I want to do a couple of things. I want to share a few of my favorite blog posts I’ve made over the years, tell you a few of my goals and ideas I have for the blog, and let you know about all the cool things I’ve experienced since the start of my blog two years ago.

My Book Haul from Sweden’s Annual Book Sale

April 2, 2018June 24, 2018 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hey there aliens! I’m with you here today to talk about something super exciting, my book haul from Sweden’s annual book sale. This book sale occurs every year at the end of February and every store that stocks books decide to put out a number of books for discounted prices. Usually, since I only read English and book prices are a lot higher here, I don’t tend to buy books in Swedish bookstores but this year I really managed to grab some amazing books for a great price. I can’t wait to share my finds with you. I hope you’ll find it as exciting as I do.

My Moonlit Discussions: Unhauling Books – The Why and The How

February 27, 2018May 25, 2018 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hi, readers and welcome to my first Moonlit Discussions. I really love other book blogger’s discussion posts and thought I should start my own series of discussion posts as well, especially since it’s a new year and everything (this is technically my first blog post of 2018 yay). There is so much to discuss in regards to books and the book community and I really want to share my opinion on these topics. Today I want to talk about unhauling books. I own a lot of books but I have recently realized that some of them I’ll probably never read and some I already have read but know I will never read again. That is why I wanted to get rid of them so that I’ll have more space for books I do want and actually will read. I have decided to split up my post into three parts: reasons to unhaul a book, what to do with the books you want to unhaul, and books I have or will unhaul.

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Reasons To Unhaul a Book

The book is problematic in some way. Either you read the book and was hurt by it or you read online from other reviewers (after you bought it) that the book has been offensive or otherwise hurtful.
Your taste in books has changed. E.g. when you bought the book you were totally into adult science fiction but now you’ve realized you don’t actually enjoy that genre anymore and don’t want to read the book.
You’ve read the book and know you’ll never read it again. If you know it’s a book you don’t want to reread and it’s not a book you want to keep for aesthetic or sentimental reasons then sometimes the answer is to just unhaul it.
The book is an odd one. This is similar to number three, meaning you’ve read the book (unless you’ve accidentally acquired a sequel to a book without reading the first book). If you only own one book in a series, especially a sequel of the end of a series, it might feel useless to keep the book if you don’t plan on buying the rest of the series.

My Seven Favorite Books of 2017 (Out of 55 Read)

December 29, 2017May 28, 2018 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

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Hi there people in the galaxy! Another year has gone by, and though my reading has been rather slow the second half of the year because of University, I’m still very proud of myself for the 55 books I’ve read this year. A couple of years ago that number would have seemed impossible to achieve. There have been so many great gems this year and I have decided to list my seven favorite books of the year. These really deserve all of the love in the world and if you haven’t read any of them yet, I hope you’ll add them to your 2018 TBR.

ARC Review of 27 Hours by Tristina Wright

November 28, 2017September 7, 2020 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

27 Hours by Tristina Wright

Publication Date: October 3, 2017.

Publisher: Entangled Teen.

Genres: Young Adult and Science Fiction.

Rating:

Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis: Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill, and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters, and for his strange abilities to vanish. But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them.

Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she’s in love with Dahlia, her best friend. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother’s shadow, and to unlearn Epsilon’s darkest secret. They’ll both have to commit treason to find the truth.

During one twenty-seven-hour night, if they can’t stop the war between the colonies and the monsters from becoming a war of extinction, the things they wish for will never come true, and the things they fear will be all that’s left.

27 Hours is a sweeping, thrilling story featuring a stellar cast of queer teenagers battling to save their homes and possibly every human on Sahara as the clock ticks down to zero.

Thank you, Macmillan and Entangled Teen, for my ARC of 27 Hours. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Before I read this book I was so intrigued by the world Tristina Wright has created in 27 Hours and I have now truly fallen in love with it. 27 Hours is an action-packed character driven story which will have you rooting for the main characters while you at the same time get to know this new world far away in outer space. There’s romance, friendship, family and so much more which are all explored through the four POVs of Rumor Mora, Jude Welton, Nyx Llorca, and Braeden Tennant. Through these four different teenagers, we are taken on a journey where everything they’ve ever believed will be challenged and thus they must fight for their survival and for what’s right.

ARC Review of Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson

November 22, 2017September 7, 2020 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson

Publication Date: November 21, 2017.

Publisher: Wednesday Books.

Genres: Young Adult and Contemporary.

Rating:

Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis: Elliot Gabaroche is very clear on what she isn’t going to do this summer.

1. She isn’t going to stay home in Sacramento, where she’d have to sit through her stepmother’s sixth community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
2. She isn’t going to mock trial camp at UCLA.
3. And she certainly isn’t going to the Air Force summer program on her mother’s base in Colorado Springs. As cool as it would be to live-action-role-play Ender’s Game, Ellie’s seen three generations of her family go through USAF boot camp up close, and she knows that it’s much less Luke/Yoda/”feel the force,” and much more one hundred push-ups on three days of no sleep. And that just isn’t appealing, no matter how many Xenomorphs from Alien she’d be able to defeat afterwards.

What she is going to do is pack up her attitude, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and go to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic-decathlon-like competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College, the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program. And she’s going to start over as Ever Lawrence, on her own terms, without the shadow of all her family’s expectations. Because why do what’s expected of you when you can fight other genius nerds to the death for a shot at the dream you’re sure your family will consider a complete waste of time?

This summer’s going to be great.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for my ARC of Not Now, Not Ever. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

I have fallen in love with Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson. This book is funny, adorable, and perfect for anyone interested in a nerdy romantic comedy. This diverse contemporary young adult story is about Ever and her summer at a competitive camp for geniuses where she has the chance to win a scholarship to her dream school. The only catch is that everyone in her family thinks she is somewhere else and no one at camp knows her real identity.

Halloween Book Recommendations For Every Type of Halloween – Sweet, Scary, or Magical

October 24, 2017April 2, 2018 Olivia Chanel1 Comment

Hi everyone and welcome to my Halloween post, filled with books that can occupy your mind this festive holiday season. However, as the title suggests, I have much more than just scary horror books to recommend you. I have something for everyone, no matter what kind of your Halloween person you are. If your favorite part of Halloween is the candy or the princesses costumes, don’t worry, I have book recommendations for you too. In this post, you’ll find book recommendations for those that prefer their Halloween to be sweet and cute, for those that love everything that’s scary and murderous during Halloween, and lastly, there are also books for those that love Halloween because of magic and the paranormal. There are seven books for every category, so go forth and find the perfect read for your Halloween. Books written by authors of color are marked with a (▽) symbol and books with a queer main character is marked with a (❊) symbol.

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First of all, I have book recommendations for everyone who treasures the candy and cute costumes during Halloween. If the princess and prince costumes, the fairytales, and just the fact that Halloween is an opportunity to escape the real world for a while is why you love the holiday, these seven following books are for you. They have happy endings, real-life royalty and are perfect to consume with a cup of pumpkin spice latte and a big bowl of Halloween candy.

Saturday Night Author Fever #19 with Alex Whitehall

September 30, 2017August 27, 2017 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

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Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Alex Whitehall. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Alex, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

My name is Alex Whitehall (they/them), and I grew up in a small rural/suburban southeastern Pennsylvania area. When I’m not working and writing (also known as “checking Twitter and Tumblr obsessively”), I’m watching anime and playing tabletop role-playing games with my friends. I am the epitome of cool. I currently have one novel out (Sharing a Pond) and two novellas (A Christmas for Oscar and Second Skin).

Music from the seventies is, well, classic. It’s the stuff that comes on the radio and I can sing almost every word (or hum the parts I don’t know…) and happily feel a little ridiculous as a rock out to it in my car. It’s not my primary music, but there are very few songs (that have survived on the radio to today) that I wouldn’t let play. I guess time weeds out the bad ones.

ATTENTION – Here Are 17 Young Adult Books That Cost 2$ Or Less

September 28, 2017December 9, 2017 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hi everyone and welcome to another blog post filled with cheap books (*cue happy dancing*). If there’s one thing I love to do then it’s finding cheap books on Amazon, and in other amazing bookstores too of course. For my post today, I have discounted (or just very cheap) young adult books for you all. There are probably more out there but these 18 ones I’ve mentioned are all rather famous, and books I’m sure a lot of people want to get their hands on (especially for prices like these ones). Remember that these books were 2 USD or less for me at the American Kindle store but that prices may vary due to location and the deal running out so check an extra time before one-clicking these great looking books. Diverse reads, meaning books about and/or written by marginalized people, are marked with a star (☆) in the list below. The list is in alphabetical order.

ARC Review of peluda by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

September 26, 2017September 7, 2020 Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

peluda by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Publication Date: September 26, 2017.

Publisher: Button Poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Hispanic American, and Family.

Rating:

Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis: One of the most original performance poets of her generation, Melissa Lozada-Oliva has captivated crowds across the country and online with her vivid narratives. Humorous and biting, personal and communal, self-deprecating and unapologetically self-loving, peluda (meaning “hairy” or “hairy beast”) is the poet at her best. The book explores the relationship between femininity and body hair as well as the intersections of family, class, the immigrant experience, Latina identity, and much more, all through Lozada-Oliva’s unique lens and striking voice. peluda is a powerful testimony on body image and the triumph over taboo.

Thank you, Button Poetry, for my ARC of peluda. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

I have fallen in love with the poetry collection peluda and for me, what makes peluda such a unique poetry collection is how brutally honest and charismatic it is. It’s funny, deep, and a must-read for contemporary poetry lovers. peluda is feminist and about body hair, family, friendship, Latina identity, and the immigrant experience. I believe poetry collections about, and written by, women of color should be celebrated, and this collection is no exception.