I HAVE MOVED!

Yes! It's true! I have moved blogs and now you can find me at

www.readarella.com

I know, so fancy and official right?

So please update your links and all those other great things and come join me in my new location!

It's Monday, what are you reading?

It's Monday, what are you reading? Is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila over at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

This month is just flying by so quickly! Not to mention all the other things going on in my personal life. That doesn't leave very much time for completing my challenge as I had hoped. But like they say, you gotta make time!

Read Last Week

Reading This Week

So I'm making some pretty good progress with my Halloween Challenge, at least I'd like to think so! Haha. Of all the books I've read so far I think Suspicion was my favorite even if the ending was super freakin iffy and sort of made no sense at all. I actually finished The Vines this morning and while it was interesting in terms of the history I wasn't too impressed with the characters.

I've been meaning to read Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea for awhile now and I keep putting it off so I figured now or never, basically. There are still a few books I was hoping to finish before October ends but I'm not sure how that's going to work out since it's already the 27th, I may continue on into next month... if I can find time between homework, work and NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo being the more demanding of them all lol!

What are you reading this week?

2014 Challenge | Halloween

So every year on my main book blog since 2010 I've done a Halloween Challenge. Fun fact: as a kid I was paranoid and terrified of Halloween and now that I'm older, ironically, it's my favorite holiday EVER. Like, over Christmas and Valentines Day. I love love love Fall and Halloween and the colors... *sigh*.

So since this is the first year I'm doing this on this blog.... I wasn't really going anywhere with that honestly haha. I normally pick books out of my comfort zone or paranormal books I've been trying to get myself to pick up and actually I've discovered a lot of my favorite series by doing this every year!

I get a little too excited when I first make this list, but it'll change through the month. But here's to hoping that I FOR ONCE end up crossing everything off!

• The Other Lamb by Katie Young
• Falls The Shadow by Stefanie Gaither
• Of Monsters and Madness by Jessica Verday
• Fallen by Lauren Kate
• Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff
• Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper
• Guardians (Seers #3) by Heather Frost
• Unmade (The Lynburn Legacy #3 *sobs*) by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Genevieve Tucholke
• The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Made For You by Melissa Marr
• Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto
• Servents of the Storm by Delilah Dawson
• The Vines by Christopher Rice (seriously, I'm a little scared)
• Getting Even by Sarah Rayner 
• When by Victoria Laurie
• Dark Redemption by Angie Sandro
• Soulless by Amber Garr
• Once Upon A Time by Marina Warner
• Suspicion by Alexandra Moni
• The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco
• The Forgotten Girls by Sara Blaedel
• Fractured Dream by KM Randall
• The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott
• Creed by Trisha Leaver
• Blood Entwines by Caroline Healy
• Dream Boy by Mary Crockett
• Strings by G. Miki Hayden

Okay, I know, you're like the hell with this list right? But these are titles I'm targeting. I'll eventually be removing some or replacing some or maybe I MIGHT JUST READ THEM ALL. Right. In a perfect world maybe.

So.... enough about me! What do you plan on reading this October? Let me know in the comments below!

Book Sampler Review | Atlantia by Ally Condie

Atlantia by Ally Condie
Release Date: October 28th, 2014
Publisher: Dutton Children's
Genre: Young Adult > Dystopia
Obtained: NetGalley (Thank you Netgalley & Dutton!)
Find: Amazon | GoodReads | B&N
Summary:
Can you hear Atlantia breathing?
For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

Atlantia is a strange take on a dystopian world. Most people now live underwater where it's safe and the air is clean while some people sacrifice their lives to make sure the people down below have good lives by going Above. Once you reach a certain age, you're allowed to decide if you want to stay in Atlantia or serve Above where the air is pretty much toxic and the work is hard. 

Rio has always dreamed of going Above, where it would be safer for her but her twin sister Bay makes her promise to stay down in Atlantia with her, without their mother Bay didn't want to be left alone. So Rio is forced to abandon her dream of ever seeing the world Above. However when it comes to decide, Bay actually make the choice to go Above, leaving Rio to stay in Atlantia.

Since this was only a sample of the book, I'm really curious to know what Bay's intentions were and why did she do it? She knew Rio wanted to go Above, why didn't she let her? 

As the week goes on Rio searches for a letter or anything Bay may have left behind to explain her reasoning's but finds nothing. Nothing until she runs into her Aunt Maire who just so happens to be a siren and who she was warned to stay away from finds her in the market and offers cryptic advice. But who else better to help her uncover what is really going on than someone who shares her secret trait?

I'm really excited to see where this is going and I'll be anxiously awaiting for its release in October. It seems more driven than Matched, which I wasn't all that into. I've thought about re-reading it and maybe finishing the series but... maybe this will distract me from that!

*Thank you NetGalley & Dutton for the chance to read and review this title in advanced!

It's Monday, what are you reading?

It's Monday, what are you reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Oh. Hello there! Remember me? I took a bit of a break from reading because... well life. And every time I would get in bed I was more absorbed into surfing Pinterest and going to sleep than reading. I know, bad reader! Bad bad reader! But I will admit I do miss the world of fiction and the sanctification of finishing a book (or two or three) in a day or week and well... my NetGalley pile is not getting any smaller so.... let's do something about that shall we?

What I Read Last Week

What I'm Reading This Week

So... I was kinda disappointed that the preview scene I saw of The Giver (the one with Taylor Swift) was actually NOT in the book, I get it's an adaptation and well they had to showcase it somehow. But I still enjoyed the book. The other two were... meh. I don't want to talk too much about them since I will be reviewing them soon.... which reminds me I have to edit and post my vlog review of Some Quiet Place.

Yes, I'm reading 4 books this week! Maybe. Maybe 5. Or 4. I haven't decided. I'm kinda obsessed with Mindy Kaling since I marathoned The Mindy Project. Seriously obsessed so this is an elibrary borrow which means I have 6 days left to finish it lol. The last two are NetGalley books. I'm not sure how I feel about The Winter People I mean it's getting interesting but it just seems so jumbled at the same time. And The Walls Around Us I basically can only read in the morning. Like it's not SUPER creepy, I'm just being a wuss. I might give up home on If I Stay I was hoping to read through it (finally, it's literally been on my Kindle TBR for 4 years) and watch the movie cause the trailer looked epic but the writing style doesn't click with me. I don't know what's going on, when a flashback is going to happen or anything. If anything I might just finish it for the sake of saying I did. I also snatched up Insurgent from the elibrary before anyone else could lol. So I guess I'm going to continue the Divergent series after all!

What are you reading this week?

Book Sampler Review | Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Anna and the French Kiss #3
Release Date: August 14th, 2014
Publisher: Dutton
Genre: Young Adult > Contemporary
Obtained: NetGalley (Thank you NetGalley & Dutton!)
Find: Amazon | GoodReads | B&N
Summary:

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.

Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain to please fans old and new.

Isla and the Happily Ever After is probably a title that 80% of the people in the book blogging community is looking forward to. We've fallen in love with Étienne St. Clair, then we fell in love with Cricket Bell and now we have this Josh fella to look forward to. And guys, he's nothing like the last two we fell in love with but I mean, he's pretty darn adorbs from the bit I was introduced to.

Luckily and sadly I was only able to get the sampler for this title. Luckily because hello who wouldn't want a sneak peek? And sadly because it was only the first five chapters. Now, I must wait. And if you know anything about Perkins you know that five chapters is like literally not even scratching the surface.

I absolutely loved the first line of this book.

Like, Isla, I love you already. You're totally gutsy for going out to eat knowing you're drugged up on Vicodin. You go girl. You get that boys attention! You say all the things you've been wanting to say! Seriously, this scene for Isla might had been one of those holy crap what have I done moments but as an outsider, I'm kinda jealous. When I got my wisdom's taken out I couldn't even get out of bed. My parents would NOT had let me leave the house though if I had, I probably would had flagged down a boy I thought was attractive and had just went for it. Whatever at this point! Amiright?! Also, I love that Josh is an artist.

Isla is back in France at the same school where we met Anna and Étienne St. Clair. Oh. I'm excited for this! More adventures in Paris? YES PLEASE! Oh, also, Josh is there too. Though I'm sure you probably already figured that one out. Along with Isla is her best friend Kurt who I kinda got a feel for. He seems very uptight, but I'm looking forward to getting to know him better once the book is released. 

So who else is excited for this one? Are you planning on re-reading Anna and the French Kiss prior? 

I think I will because really, I think I need to pay St. Clair a visit.

It's Monday, what are you reading?

It's Monday, what are you reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books.

Oh. Hello there! Remember me? I took a bit of a break from reading because... well life. And every time I would get in bed I was more absorbed into surfing Pinterest and going to sleep than reading. I know, bad reader! Bad bad reader! But I will admit I do miss the world of fiction and the sanctification of finishing a book (or two or three) in a day or week and well... my NetGalley pile is not getting any smaller so.... let's do something about that shall we?

What I Read Last Week

What I'm Reading This Week

I got a sample (the first 5 chapters) of Isla and the Happily Ever After on NetGalley and I was super excited about it! As I was reading it, I remembered 5 chapters is not nearly enough to coming close to the good stuff when it comes to a novel by Stephanie Perkins so I'm just sitting here. Waiting for the book to be released.

I've been reading We Were Liars for weeks now. Everyone talks about how heartbreaking it is and so I kind of feel like I'm reading it while covering the other half of my face. Like. What did I get myself into?!? I started reading Grim which so far is... kinda weird. It's a collection of short stories by various YA authors, they take a grim tale and retell it. The first one was really awkward, I didn't really know where it was going. The second one was kinda sad and the third one... I wanted it to be longer!

Decided to really start and finish The Geography of You and Me by borrowing it from the library. I know I got this for review in physical form but I dunno, I like curling up with my Kindle in bed a lot more than with a book these days (I know --- what did she just say?).

What are you reading this week?