Tag: book blogger

My Very Best Reads of 2016

Olivia Chanel4 Comments

Hi everyone! My blogging game has been really off lately, but I’m back, and I’m going to try to keep it that way since I want to become more organized 2017. Even though this might be considered late, I wanted to share my favorite reads of 2016 because these books mean so much to me and I want everyone to read them. I thought about ranking the books, but honestly, it’s impossible. My love for these books is great, and it can’t be compared book to book. Here are my favorite eight books of 2016, in the order of when I read them, first to last.

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Cover Reveal for Crawdad by Lisa Cresswell

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

Hi everyone, today I have a really exciting cover reveal for you. I’m here to show you the cover of Crawdad by Lisa Cresswell. The book sounds amazing, and the cover is great. See the cover below and read the synopsis.

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You can read the book synopsis for Crawdad here:

Seventeen-year-old Jamil Ramos grew up on Alabama’s Gulf Coast believing his mom, Loretta, was his only living relative. She put a trumpet in his hands as a toddler and sparked his love of jazz. But when Loretta drops a bomb on Jamil from her deathbed- she’s not his mama and his daddy is still alive, living in Charleston, S.C. – his world is turned upside down.

Now, with the only mama he’s ever known gone and the Loyola University trumpet audition less than a week away, Jamil has trouble feeling his music. When his band teacher tells him to get it together, Jamil decides to hitchhike to South Carolina over to find his father and get his questions answered. All he has is a name –Leon Ramos.

Jamil relies on the kindness of the strangers he meets-a gay teen kicked out of his home, a runaway prostitute, and a street musician-as he makes his way across Florida and Georgia trying to avoid the cops along the way. But when Jamil is robbed of his most prized possession, his trumpet, his plans go anywhere but where he’d hoped. That trumpet was supposed to be his ticket for a scholarship, the only way to college his mama could give him. Lost and alone without it, Jamil wonders if finding his father is worth risking his future.

What do you think about the cover? Do you want to read this book as much as I do when it comes out?

The Cover Reveal is hosted by Rich in Variety Tours.

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Welcome To The Ballet World (+Book Recs)

Olivia Chanel4 Comments

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Welcome to the ballet world, filled with beautiful dancers, pink shoes, and lots and lots of secrets. Being a ballerina can be both the most wonderful and most rewarding thing, but it’s a vicious world and comes with a lot of darkness as well. If this is something that interests you, let me present to you my first book recommendations for ballet themed books.

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Freebie Friday #8

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Hi guys! Welcome to another Freebie Friday and free books. I know I’ve been been posting a lot less these past few weeks, but I’ve been trying to catch up this last week or so. It’s been fun. I missed blogging a lot. This week I have two free New Adult books for you. The first one is Let Love In by Melissa Collins and the second one is Ode To The Queen by Kyleigh Castronaro. The first one is a romance college book, and the second one is more fantasy and Greek Mythology themed. Read more about them below.

Remember guys, the books I recommend are free the moment I publish my post but I can never guarantee they’re free for long so once you see it, grab it! That’s what I do.

letlovein1.jpgLet Love In by Melissa Collins

Goodreads. Amazon.

What would happen if you lost everything? If the people who were supposed to love you unconditionally were no longer there for you, how would your world change?

Madeleine Becker lost everything when her parents died when she was ten years old. Ripped from her home and everything that she has ever loved, she is forced to start all over again. The only way for her to move on is to build walls around her heart and keep everyone at a safe distance. Her logic: she can’t get hurt if she doesn’t fall in love.

That theory is blown to pieces when she meets Reid Connely during her freshman year at college. He is gorgeous and darkly mysterious. He understands Maddy’s pain all too well, but sharing his pain would mean breaking down the walls he put up around his own heart. Conflicted between loving Maddy and hiding his dark past, Reid starts to reevaluate his world. Maddy’s inner strength, snarky personality and breath taking beauty help Reid to make peace with his past.

Together they find out what happens when they let love in.

odetothequeen1.jpgOde To The Queen by Kyleigh Castronaro

Goodreads. Amazon.

Do you love Greek Mythology, Romance, Greek Gods, Olympians?

Explore Mount Olympus with the other Gods as 21st century adults find themselves the vessels of reincarnated Greek Gods.

Savannah has been kidnapped. By a man who claims he’s a Titan and she’s one of the Greek Gods. Except, she doesn’t know who her Goddess is and no one will tell her. So, it’s a little farfetched and she wishes it isn’t true but the evidence is piling up against her.

While left to figure it out for herself, Charlotte is happy to make her life a living hell and the friends she does make turn to enemies. And then there’s Aidan: the arrogant and mysterious King of the Gods. Savannah finds herself drawn to him despite her best efforts not to get involved with another guy. She doesn’t need this kind of trouble when her life is already upside down; being a Goddess is hard enough.

When a Titan tries his hand at repeating history, Savannah finds herself swept up into a plot straight out of Greek Mythology. She learns to make sacrifices for the ones she cares about as she tries to save her fellow Greek Gods and Goddesses.

Driven by fate and a past she knows nothing about Savannah must navigate her new world as one of the Greek Gods Olympians, learning to be her own heroine. Will history repeat itself or will the New Olympians write their own myths?

Are you interested in reading any of these two books? Will you be getting one of them?

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Books That Shouldn’t Have to Stand Alone

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

Standalone books are great for when you want to read something quickly and don’t want to commit to anything more than that. However, sometimes we stumble upon a book, a book we love, and it just happens to be a standalone book. You just happen to read a book so good that you just wish that there was more. You crave it like you crave water, but there is not a sequel out there. Nor will it probably ever be. That is often the case with contemporary YA books. The moment is sad, because you, you just feel that these characters and their lives, they deserve to be told in vigorous detail. You personally deserve to know more. I think we have all felt it, one time or the other.

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The first book Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel is probably one of my favorite books ever. I would love it if we got to know more of Leila and Lisa’s story perhaps from a sequel with Lisa’s POV. I would honestly love to get to know more about her, she’s one of my favorite characters ever, and I’m dying to know how Leila and Lisa deal with high school, college, and just life. We deserve to see more of our love nuggets.

The Host is a book I think most people know about it. It made me bawl several times, and I have a soft spot for Melanie, Jared, Wanda, and Ian. After that ending, damn that open ending, we deserve to know more about these characters and this world. I know Stephenie told the world she’s making this book into a series, but so far we have gotten nothing. Please, give us, give us more.

Another book I really would have loved to get a sequel to is Dreaming of Antigone. Andria uncovers so much about her dead twin sister, her family and what she thought she knew about her life. In this cocktail, there’s also Alex, who has dealt with his fair share of hurt as well. The ending to this one is great, but I would have loved to see the next step in their lives after everything that happens.

Dirty London is a short book about London Noble, about how tough high school and life can be. The amazing part about this book is that there is a strong sense of family and sisterhood, and the ship is just the best. The only thing I would change is that we get more. This book is only about 170 pages and ends on a very happy note but I would have loved to see more of the Noble family and the love story.

A fifth standalone book that I would have loved to get a sequel to is Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here. Scarlett is Jewish, a fanfiction writer and throughout the book, we get to know her and see her grow so much. Her personality is so lovely and amazing, and most of all unique, we deserve to see more of it. I want to see Scarlett fall in love, apply for college and I want to read more of her fanfiction.

Keeping Her Secret is another book I crave a sequel for. It’s about Riya and Courtney. This book takes place during a summer camp, and they meet again after several years. I love the ending, but as the greedy person I am, I want to know more about their lives after summer camp. I mean am I the only one who just wants more? Just give me endless books about my OTP and them doing day-to-day things.

What standalone books do you think deserve sequels or spinoffs? Have you read any of the ones I mentioned?

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Cover Reveal for Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett #HollywoodHomicide

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hi everyone, today I have a cover reveal for a book that looks absolutely amazing. It’s an adult cozy mystery with a black main character, and the cover is breathtaking. You don’t have to take my word for it, just look for yourself and swoon with me. I personally have a huge soft spot for mystery books since I used to read those books way before I ever read YA books as a kid, so I know I’ll be getting my hands on this one. You should too! However, without further ado, I shall now show you the cover for Hollywood Homicide,

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Title: Hollywood Homicide

Book 1 in the Detective By Day Series

Publisher: Midnight Ink

Release Date: August 8, 2017

You can read the book blurb for Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett here:

Dayna Anderson doesn’t set out to solve a murder. All the semi-famous, mega-broke black actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. After witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she figures pursuing the fifteen-grand reward isn’t the craziest thing a Hollywood actress has done for some cash.

But what starts as simply trying to remember a speeding car soon blossoms into a full-on investigation. As Dayna digs deeper into the victim’s life, she wants more than just reward money. She’s determined to find the poor woman’s killer too. When she connects the accident to a notorious Hollywood crime spree, Dayna chases down leads at paparazzi hot spots, celeb homes and movie premieres. She loves every second—until someone tries to kill her.

And there are no second takes in real life.

Kellye Garrett.JPGAbout Kellye Garrett

Kellye Garrett spent 8 years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for the CBS drama Cold Case. People were always surprised to learn what she did for a living—probably because she seemed way too happy to be brainstorming ways to murder people. A former magazine editor, Kellye holds a B.S. in magazine writing from Florida A&M and an MFA in screenwriting from USC’s famed film school. Having moved back to her native New Jersey, she spends her mornings commuting to Manhattan for her job at a leading media company—while still happily brainstorming ways to commit murder. Her first novel, Hollywood Homicide, will be released by Midnight Ink in August 2017. It’s the first book in the Detective by Day series.

Connect with Kellye

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

You can pre-order the e-book and print edition on Amazon.

What do you guys think about the cover for Hollywood Homicide? Will you be pre-ordering it? I know I’m just dying to get my hands on it.

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My Latest Book Purchases

Olivia Chanel5 Comments

Unexpectedly, I have bought a lot of books this month. Both ebooks for my kindle and paperbacks, two I bought from Book Depository and the rest I bought in a little secondhand shop in my town. Sometimes, especially when I’m in a book slump, I tend to go on a shopping spree to help me cure that. Also book deals on Amazon are my savior, I mean 99 cents for a book? That is heaven. I thought I’d share which books I’ve bought this month, and if they look interesting you can get them too!

Ebooks Bought in October

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Paperbacks Bought New in October

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Paperbacks Bought Secondhand in October

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I can’t believe I have bought that I have bought this many books, sometimes you don’t realize it until you actually put it all together like this. Most of these were rather cheap, somewhere between a dollar or two so it looks more expensive than it was, but I’m excited to read them all nevertheless. A good book to cozy up with on a cold day is the best feeling.

What books have you bought lately? Have you read any of the books I purchased?

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Cover Reveal for Plastic Wings by C.T. Callahan

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Hi everyone! Today I have a cover reveal for you all for C.T. Callahan’s book Plastic Wings. The expected publication date is November 22, 2016 by Three Little Books Co. Without further ado, I now present to you, the cover of Plastic Wings…

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You can read the book synopsis for Plastic Wings by C.T. Callahan here:

When seven-year-old Evie Weiss discovers a strange, sickly boy in her otherwise familiar forest, she has no idea what it holds for her world. He is a dark angel, one of a race of humanoid beings that feed on humanity and tear Evie’s world down around her. Years later, as humanity mounts a counter-attack against the dark angels, Evie remembers the boy in the forest and finds herself torn between her loyalty to her own people and feelings of compassion for these strange creatures that first captivated her as a child. It is the quest of one girl to unite two worlds so separated by war, but how can she close the gap between two races so determined to hate each other?

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Author Bio:

C.T. Callahan is the author of young adult fantasy, sci-fi, and a weird assortment of short stories. Hailing from a mixed-racial background, she’s pledged her writing to contribute to the spread of diversity in fiction and the fight for equality. When away from reading and writing, you’ll most likely find her engaged in art or snuggling cute dogs.

Learn more at CTCallahan.com.

Are you as excited about this book as I am? Have you added the book on Goodreads yet? What do you think of the cover of Plastic Wings?

The Cover Reveal is hosted by Rich in Variety Tours.

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Waiting On Wednesday #4 Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys

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Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. I’m currently anticipating Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys, it’s a book that looks so amazing and even a little mysterious, which I love.

Krys_9780553508024_jkt_all_r1.inddDead Girls Society by Michelle Krys

Expected publication: November 8, 2016

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller

Add to your To Be Read shelf on Goodreads.

Pre-order on Amazon or Book Depository.

Synopsis: You are cordially invited to participate in a game of thrills and dares. Tell no one, and come alone. If you dare.

Hope is sick of everyone treating her like she’s breakable. Sure, she has cystic fibrosis (basically really bad lungs), but she’s tired of being babied by her mom and her overprotective best friend, Ethan, not to mention worrying about paying for her expensive medication and how she’s going to afford college. And she’s bored with life in her run-down New Orleans suburb.

When an invitation arrives from a mysterious group that calls itself the Society, Hope jumps at the chance for some excitement. This could be her ticket out. All she has to do is complete a few dares and she might win some real money.

But the Society isn’t all it seems . . . and soon Hope finds that playing the game isn’t a choice—it’s a requirement.

What book are you waiting for this Wednesday? Are you also waiting for Dead Girls Society?

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Oh What The HIATUS

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

41rpectkimlHi readers! I have a little personal update for you. I think maybe some of you have noticed my absence from the blog lately. Life has been hectic, on a lot of fronts. The creative writing class I’m currently taking is a lot of work and I’ve also had one of the worst reading slumps ever. However, I’m slowly starting to feel better, managing time better and also yesterday I started the book Prep and Prejudice that I am falling in love with (bye-bye reading slump). With all of the positive energy I’m currently feeling I believe I’ll soon, though slowly, get back into the whole blogging thing. I still might make fewer posts than I did over the summer, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it nevertheless.

However, before I go, I really do have to tell you all about Prep and Prejudice by Miren B. Flores. It’s a book that takes places in the Philippines, and has a bit of Gossip Girl vibe going on. It’s about a group of rich kids, and one girl, Andrea, who is not rich but has through life ended up in their company anyway. It totally got that enemies to lover thing going on, and I love the angst. I definitely recommend it guys, so much swoon! You can add it on Goodreads, and buy it on Amazon (it’s only 99c, what are you waiting for??).

Are you guys reading a good book at the moment? Which one?

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