Well hello folks. Summer is here! How do I know? Is it due to the sun blazing through cloudless blue skies paralleled to vibrant, rich and lush green grass parks as the laughter of little kiddos splash around community pools that sparkle like diamonds? …
NO! I live in Florida which means, Hurricane Season so it is freaking stormy, raining, lightening, and thundering, simultaneously threatening to cut off our dish cable and internet every thirty minutes! *breathes into paper bag* (by now, you may know my theater background aids in these momentary dramatics)
I live in a state where Summer is all year long, so unlike the popular consensus, I hate Summer. Oh yeah, I said it. Sorry Olaf (Frozen), I can not joyfully sing along to your ignorantly blissful dreams of “Summer”. Anyway, enough bashing, back to what this is about…BOOKS! I decided to put together a Summer Book Wishlist of books that are currently available right now that I have REALLY wanted and need to get my hands on, ASAP. There are MANY more that could have been added to this list but they haven’t been published yet so I did not include them.
Interesting enough, my little Summer Wishlist holds a ton of Fantasy/Sci-fi/Adventure which are one, not my go to genres and two, not your typical Summery reads. Well, here they are! Now “Dammit Billy” (book I recently read inside joke…now I’m debating doing a Book-Talk about it: Sweet Addiction by J. Daniels – Adult RomCom), as I was saying, where is my long lost rich uncle who generously wants to give me an Amazon gift card for $500,000 so I can buy ALL THE BOOKS!!!?
On with the BOOKS!
1. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
First, let me just say that I am SO glad they redesigned the covers for this series. They look SO bad ass now. When you follow the link for Goodreads for book one (Throne of Glass), you’ll see the previous cover with an actual cover model. Normally, I’m weary of covers with people on the cover because they tend to be REALLY chessy. Sometimes, I am not too fond of people on the cover that were digitally drawn because those too end up normally looking really chessy. (I’m such a cover snob, I know. It’s horrible) These look great. I have heard endless praise towards this series from the beginning. I am ITCHING to get this series in my hands, immediately. Look at that cover below…I want that outfit and I want to look that freaking awesome in it!
Throne of Glass (goodreads)
The Assassin’s Blade – the novellas (goodreads)
Crown of Midnight (goodreads)
Heir of Fire (goodreads)
2. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira (goodreads)
At first, this book fell into the, “Hmm…this looks interesting. Mark it to be read someday.” Then one my friends from Page to Premiere (Yaunna shoutout! *Hugs* girly – Check out her Entertainment News Website: TrulyLuminary) read it and even fan casted it. Check out this great post she did on Page to Premiere. If you’ve read it, even more so, you can appreciate it. Fan Casting: Who Should Lead the Teenage Cast of ‘Love Letters to the Dead’?
She gave me a premise of the story and raved about it. I instantly felt I connected with the main character’s (Laurel) journey of working through her grieving. Not to get into anything personal, but I am still working through a close family members death and feel this book may be very therapeutic for me.
3. Open Road Summer by Emery Lord (goodreads)
Well, I don’t have much to say about this other than it has been HIGHLY recommended…yeah…that’s all I have to say about that.
4. For Darkness Shows the Stars series by Diana Peterfreund
So here’s a little tidbit about me…usually anything related to stars, I’m a sucker for. Books with them focused on the title or theme somehow, my eyes target them fiercely. The moment I saw the cover and the title for this series, I knew I needed to have it. I heard the girls from Epic Reads rave about the series as well so I’m very much wanting to delve into this world. I heard a book tuber mention a favorite book quote of hers was actually the title of this book. It made me ponder on it, “for darkness shows the stars”. Ah, the ‘philosophical’ discussions could go on and on. Same thing I’m going through right now after re-visiting ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ now that the movie has released. Lots of deep life thinking…
For Darkness Shows the Stars (goodreads)
Among the Nameless Stars – prequel (goodreads)
Across a Star-Swept Sea (goodreads)
5. The Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout (goodreads link here)
Cue the fangirl flails and squeals…Yes, ladies and gentlemen, apparently Jennifer L. Armentrout (also known as J. Lynn for her New Adult books) is wildly known and loved. I mean, this woman means business. Within the last four years, she has written something like 20 books. How is that even possible?! Some of us have speculated that she is not human. She is either part cyborg or alien because, damn. I wish my writing was that disciplined.
The Lux series is a supernatural/paranormal young adult sci-fi? Not entirely sure yet but I have been urged that it is necessary that I read these pronto. I had yet to hop onto any of the Jennifer L. Armentrout bandwagon until I stumbled upon her New Adult series “Wait for You”. Yep. I’m a fan. Supernatural/Paranormal themed books are not my usual go to. My interest usually goes towards Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic (my favorite), Contemporary, then perhaps Sci-fi/Adventure. All must have a Romance element in them. (my personal reading requirements) Once in a while, I’ll embark on some fantasy and in this rare case, supernatural. I’ve heard Daemon is scrum-deli-ocious…so, well, yeah. Gotta check him out. 😉 From the Wait For You series, I thoroughly enjoyed her writing style. She writes young adults honestly, no cliches. Excited to finally embark on this journey.
Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Origin, & Opposition
6. The Girl of Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson
Another Epic Reads highly recommended series. So, I hear I am to acquaint myself with Hector because “swoon”. I have yet to read it (hence it’s on this list) but I can already tell this may be one of those under the radar series. The series is already completed which I love because then I can binge read it and not go through lack of closure episodes of withdrawal. If people whose book tastes I trust are telling me I need to meet this new book boyfriend, well then…I’m in. I have been wanting for this series since forever!
The Girl of Fire and Throns (goodreads)
The Crown of Embers (goodreads)
The Bitter Kingdom(goodreads)
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So there it is. I was looking through my bookshelf and wondering which books that I currently own, I’d want to tackle next as my Summer TBR list. In that current list we have:
1. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige (also have heard great reviews on)
2. Elusion by Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam
3. Perfect Chemistry (book 1) and Rules of Attraction (book 2) by Simone Elkeles
4. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
5. If I Stay by Gayle Forman (I’ve been stalling majorly on this one. Haven’t been emotionally prepared for this yet)
6. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (again with the stars…had to have it and the cover is GORGEOUS)
Also before I go. Remember me mentioning the cyborg/alien awesomeness that is Jennifer L. Armentrout? Well, to give you an idea of how much she’s written and published, check out this seriously Ha-Mazing chart I Heart Big Books created of her work for her birthday. (Both her YA – Young Adult – series and her New Adult/Adult books)
Her and I may be about the same age but I still say that I want to be like her when I grow up. haha Hoping to get all these stories and character voices in my head out sooner than the pace I’m doing currently. I love writing stories and creating characters. I always have, only it took me many years to put two and two together. My years and years of SIMS game obsession makes sense now. Ha! Anywho, that chart of her work is pretty impressive. Inspires me to cut the crap with the procrastination and get my ass to writing already. Geez!
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