Book Your Future Reads is a feature on Stories in Space where I put a spotlight on upcoming releases that deserve recognition, a spot on your to be read lists, and to be your next pre-order purchases. Through this feature I want highlight novels I am excited about and novels I think you should be excited about too. This week I’m putting a spotlight on two upcoming romance novels: The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon and Much Ado About You by Samantha Young.
Read More »
Book Your Future Reads is a feature on Stories in Space where I put a spotlight on upcoming releases that deserve recognition, a spot on your to be read lists, and to be your next pre-order purchases. Through this feature I want highlight novels I am excited about and novels I think you should be excited about too. This week I’m putting a spotlight on two upcoming Christmas themed novels: One Way or Another by Kara McDowell and Christmas Wishes by Sue Moorcroft.
Read More »
Welcome to Stories in Space! This is a new and improved version of my blog, previously named Olivia Chanel’s Galaxy of Books. My last blog post was made in August, 2018, which was more than two years ago so a lot has happened since the last time you saw me on here. I made this post to reintroduce myself, and the blog, and to update you on what has happened in my life since the summer of 2018.
First of all, let me tell you about the name change. I decided to change my blog name from Galaxy of Books to Stories in Space because I want to venture out from just book blogging in order to discuss other media forms as well, such as movies, and I feel the new blog name better reflects my love for all narratives, both those that exist within the pages of novels and those outside of them. However, my love for the universe is still a cornerstone of this blog which is reflected in the new name too.
Read More »
Hi readers! How are you doing? Are you reading a book you just can’t seem to put down? Tell me all about it. I’m currently reading Macbeth to prepare for when University starts in September and I’m actually really enjoying it.
Anyhoo, today’s blog post is about some of my favorite movies on Netflix. I don’t know about you guys but I tend to be a multitasker. I can’t focus on just one thing so when I’m studying or writing blog posts I almost always have something else going on as well, either it’s music, a TV show, or a movie. Because of this, I thought I’d tell you guys some of my favorite easy breezy movies that can be found on Netflix. These movies are pretty light and don’t require that much attention from you; the 15 movies I mention below all contain various amounts of romance and most of them are pretty funny too. So, without further ado, here are my favorite movies on Netflix with small synopses and links to trailers you can watch.
Beautiful Creatures
Beautiful Creatures (2013) dir. Richard LaGravenese. Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town (IMDb). Watch the trailer on YouTube and find the movie on Netflix.
A Christmas Prince (2017) dir. Alex Zamm. When a reporter goes undercover as a tutor to get the inside scoop on a playboy prince, she gets tangled in some royal intrigue and ends up finding love – but will she be able to keep up her lie? (IMDb). Watch the trailer on YouTube and find the movie on Netflix.
Read More »
Hi readers! Last Friday I published my review of Sounds Like Summer by Six de los Reyes where I talked about how much I love this book. The book came into my life at the perfect moment and really had everything I love about a great romance novel. That is how this book playlist came to be. I also like to call this playlist the Sounds Like Summer — Summer Storm setlist. It mixes all those great summer, beach, music, and a full moon by the ocean vibes. Lux and Micah spend the perfect weekend together at the Summer Storm music festival with lots of live acts playing outside by the beach and I tried to incorporate all of the vibes of that into the playlist.
Sounds Like Summer by Six de los Reyes
Publication Date: March 26, 2017.
Publisher: Independently published.
Genres: Romance, Mental Health, New Adult, and Contemporary Romance.
Recommendation: I highly recommend this book.
Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice
Synopsis: It’s not just a weekend for Lux Castelo. She has a plan, of course.
Phase One: Escape to the beach for a music festival.
Phase Two: Deal with what she can’t control.
Phase Three: Return to reality whole and ready.
Nowhere in that plan is Micah Jacinto, self-proclaimed adventurer and the kind of boy with his head stuck in the clouds and the moon inked on his arm—everything her rational sense tells her to stay away from. And yet Lux finds herself welcoming the distraction. As they spend the entire weekend together, Micah leads her to rediscover the lost pieces of herself amidst the excitement and the confusion of a raving mosh pit.
But all weekends come to an end and Lux needs to return to the dreaded reality she’s running away from. Does being brave enough to leave summer behind mean being brave enough to ask Micah to stay?
Content warning: this book deals with depression, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm. Some of this will also be discussed in my review.
What makes Sounds Like Summer a must-read romance novel is the fact that it mixes the best parts of what makes a typical summer romance novel amazing with heavy hitting topics such as what it’s like to live with depression. This book is about Lux Castelo and Micah Jacinto and the weekend they spend at Summer Storm — a weekend-long festival filled with live music acts, parties, and time spent at the beach by the ocean. However, this book is about more than just the romance; this weekend is about Lux escaping her life for a weekend to process what she has been through because of her depression and to, for a moment, forget. After Lux and Micah spend this weekend together, they find out that what happens at a summer festival does not have to stay there and sometimes the smallest of coincidences can lead to the greatest of adventures, no matter how small and scary they might be.
Read More »
Hey aliens! I see you’ve found your way to this blog post dedicated to The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. This book truly blew me away with its magic and the feelings it gave me. If you haven’t seen it yet, I posted a review of this book last week where I go into detail of what it is about this book that makes it so special. Let’s just say it’s a lot. Because this book was so amazing and the fact that it’s actually being adapted into a movie, I decided to make an unofficial soundtrack for the book. Like the book, these songs are about the universe, destiny, and epic love. This story of two teens who spent one single day together in NYC, and how their day together changes not only their lives but the lives of those they encounter during that day, is one you do not want to miss.
Hi there people in the galaxy! I’m back with another blog post and it’s another book playlist – this time one inspired by the #romanceclass novel Songs To Get Over You by Jay E. Tria. This book is about Miki and Ana. Miki is in a band called Trainman and is in love with his best friend Jill, who is the singer in the band and together with someone else. The book is about unrequited love, moving on and finding love elsewhere. It is the second book in the Playlist series, though I would argue you could read it as a standalone (but the first book is amazing, and Jill is the protagonist in that one so definitely read it first).
This playlist is dedicated to love that can be messy, unrequited, and hopeful. It is about the fact that love can be a powerful and strange thing and that the sadness of one love can lead to the happiness and future of another. I made the playlist to celebrate this book’s beautiful universe metaphors, the different kinds of unrequited love shown, and the feeling of firsts in new love when you finally manage to move on. If you haven’t read this series yet, I hope you will. You can buy the first book, Songs of Our Breakup, on Amazon and add it on Goodreads. The second book, Songs to Get Over You – the one about Miki and Ana – is also on Goodreads and can be bought on Amazon.
Hi, there world travelers and fellow book slayers! I’m here with a wrap-up post for June, maybe a bit late but it’s here nonetheless. June was a great month for me. My summer vacation from University started, I got all As on my assignments, I went to Gran Canaria with my mom, I saw Arctic Monkeys live, and lastly, I read lots of books. In June I read 12 books which feels like a personal record of some sort. I talked about what I read during my vacation in my blog post Books I Read in Gran Canaria. However, I got more read during the month than the books I mentioned in that post so I thought I’d list them all here together with my ratings of them.
Welcome galaxy travelers! I’m back with a new blog post, one where we get to catch up and I get to share some fun news. I know I have been away for quite some time, only blogging sporadically, but summertime is upon us and that means more time for reading and blogging. Between June 4 and June 11 I was on vacation in Gran Canaria (one of the Canary Islands which are a part of Spain) and during that time I got a lot of reading done. I thought I’d share the books I read with you. I read six books during my vacation and all of them were great reads. The following are the books I read, in chronological order, each with an individual rating.
Olivia Chanel's Stories in Space 