Mid-year Book Freakout: 2015 Edition

Welcome to the second 'Mid-year Book Freakout' here at A Book So Fathomless! It's a pretty simple little bookish survey for you all. Just answer the fifteen questions, add the link to your post and read back over your answers at the end of the year to see whether they've changed or not. Now, let's start!

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2015.
C - You want me to just choose one? Are you crazy? You must be. Honestly so many books became my favourite and just to list a few: Stolen by Lucy Christopher, Every Breath Series by Ellie Marney, The Grisha Series by Leigh Bardugo, Throne of Glass series and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas.
E - ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? Burial Rites, The Winner's Curse, Frankenstein, MAYBE SOMEDAY, Rat Queens, Every Move, In the Afterlight, All the Truth That's In Me, The Lost Hero/The Son of Neptune, SUITE FRANCAISE, Heir of Fire, Between the Lives, A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Bone Season, The Madness Underneath, The Winner's Crime, THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL, Boundless, End of Days and Nimona. I've had a lot of favourites...

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2015.
C - Every word by Ellie Marney! It was just everything I wanted and more and hold on while i go cry now.
E - Either End of Days by Susan Ee or Boundless by Cynthia Hand. Funny enough, they're both third books in angel series but they are so different and oh my god, I just loved both of them. Also, Every Move by Ellie Marney was kind of the best thing that's ever happened to me.

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to.
C - An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. THIS IS EVERYWHERE. I NEED TO READ.
E - Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman. I've been looking forward to this one for ages and I will have it. I will devour it.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
C - Look at Ely's answer (excluding Rick Riordan since I haven't read any of his books)
E - Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas, Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan and The Last King by Millicent Nankivell. BE MINE ALREADY.

5. Biggest disappointment.
C - Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. I AM SORRY. OKAY?
E - Maybe You're the Kind of Girl I Write Songs About by Daniel Herborn or Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

6. Biggest surprise.
C - Stolen by Lucy Christopher just stole my flipping soul.
E - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I did not expect to like this at all. I had to study it for Uni so I didn't have high hopes but then it just entirely blew my mind.

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)
C - I read Sarah J Maas for the first time this year, so there you go!
E - Irène Némirovsky (reasons why below), Samantha Shannon, Anne Bronte, Noelle Stevenson, Angela Carter, Brandon Sanderson...there are many new favourites.

8. Newest fictional crush.
C - JAMES MYCROFT. THE DARKLING. NIKOLA.  TAMLIN. NEED I SAY MORE?
E - Ridge from Maybe Someday is definitely up there. He's was beautiful, and I just really like how unique he is as a character. I can't say what makes him unique because it'll spoil the twist, but I love him.

9. Newest favourite character.
C - Rowan in Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas. OMG, his sass though.
E - Piper from the Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan. I still love Percy and Annabeth, but PIPER. Damn girl, you is badass. I will happily adopt you as my new best friend.

10. Book that made you cry.
C - None so far. I am heartless :P.
E - Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky—not just because of the book, but because of the author too. Irène Némirovsky actually died in Auschwitz before she could finish the novel and that ruins me.

11. Book that made you happy.
C - Oh I reread the Shatter Me series again this year. THIS MAKES ME VERY HAPPY.
E - The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene. This was my first reread of any of the Nancy Drew books (it's also the first in the series) and I was just so incredibly happy to be back in this world. I just adore Nancy.

12. Favourite book to film adaptation you saw this year. 
C - I have seen none. I know. Take a step back-OH WAIT, I SAW INSURGENT. That was not the best though.
E - I finally saw the film of Stardust this year. Actually, before I read the book. I ended up loving the movie way more.

13. Favourite review you've written this year.
C - A Court of Thorns and Roses by the sass-master = Sarah J Maas.
E - I think The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, because that review made me come up with a lot of other discussion posts. Also, I just really love that book.

14. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)
C - The Daughter Of Smoke and Bone trilogy box set. IT IS BEAUTIFUL.
E - The other day I bought two very beautiful books. Firstly, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr which is just gorgeous to me. Secondly, a really beautiful hardback edition of Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales—if I could, I would marry that book.

15. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
C - The same answer as above, but I just really really really need to read the Daughter Of Smoke and Bone series.
E - I want to finish the rest of the Heroes of Olympus series, my YALC books...just heaps. So many. *drowns in TBR pile*

Remember to add your link below if you join in!

REVIEW: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA/New Adult, Fantasy, Retelling.

Publication Date: May 5th 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format: Paperback

Pages: 416

Rating: 5/5

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Timesbestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

This was sent to us from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is no way altered my opinion of this book.

How can I put this simply?

I flipping loved this.

I feel like I've just read a whole series that spans across three books just from the first one. So much happened in this book that it efficiently blew my mind and I was just so excited reading the whole thing. There wasn’t one point in the book where I wanted to put this book down.

First of all, if you’re looking for a fantasy series with an easy and quick to understand world, this one is for you. There are barely any new words to learn that are difficult and the structure of the world makes logical sense that you barely even have to concentrate on the facts.

This book is quite different to other fantasy books in the way in which it is written in first point of view (others tend to be written in third). That was a surprise for me, going into this book. However, a welcoming surprise, since I dread reading books with multiple points of view.

One of the things that I noticed in the middle of the book was that we lost a bit of

Feyre’s traits I adored the most. Feyre was initially a huntress and she had a lot of fantastic insight in survival and protecting herself and her family and during her stay at the castle, I felt like since she had no use for it. Thus, her strong character weaned down to a weaker female being that we see in so many castle based books. Luckily, we actually did get to see her skill put to the test once again during the end of the book, so that was satisfying.

Okay, let’s get down to the boys.

Tamlin.

I love him.

Rhysand.

I find him interesting.

A lot of people think this is going to be like Warner and Adam in the shatter me series and I really just don’t want to think about that at all.

I really really love Tamlin and I do ship Feyre and Tamlin together, but I also can see that there is something looming in the distant future.

I am just so conflicted because I don’t want to be persuaded off Tamlin but knowing Sarah J Maas, that might happen.

The stress is real folks.

Anyway, I adored this. I totally recommend this for sure!

Thank you Bloomsbury Australia for sending us a copy of this book for review.

The Vlog/s From YA Matters is here!

Check out my vlog here:

Check out Bec's vlog right here:

Authors On Youtube / Top 3

1. Jackson Pearce
Jackson doesn't post on her youtube channel anymore but back in the day, she was one of my favourite authors to watch. She is just fun and bubbly and her video content is always entertaining.

2. Kiera Cass
You might know Kiera as the author of The Selection but she has had her youtube channel since way before that!

3. You really thought I, Chami, could write a post without mentioning Tahereh Mafi? Well you thought wrong because this channel includes the wonderful Ranson Riggs, the author of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and Tahereh Mafi, author of the Shatter Me Series. Yes yes, author couple = life goals. They make hilarious videos that don't really focus too much on writing and books as the above authors do, but they are just as good!

KISS, MARRY & KILL with US!

Check out your lovely co-bloggers playing a game of Kiss, Marry & Kill!

We Have Instagram!

So, incase you awesome lot did not know, we have instagram!

It would be A M A Z I N G if you could all check it out (and maybe follow if you feel like it ;))! Ely and I have been discussing being more active on different social media and of course, this includes the lovely Instagram!


Hopefully you will enjoy the lovely content that we post. You'll be updated on what we post on the blog, what we receive for review, what we are reading now and a whole lot more!

Click here to check it out.

BOOK EVENT TIPS | What to bring.

Now I’ve been to several book events in my time: Cassandra Clare, Maggie Stevater, John Marsden, Alyson Noel, Ruby Circle Launch party, Every Move launch and many others. With going to these events you tend to pick up a few things that you need for the next time you go to a book event again.

Bring your camera: Trust me, you are seriously going to regret it if you leave your camera at home! Book events are great for extra blog content and no one likes chunks and chunks of words without a picture or two. If you are lucky, you might even have the opportunity to take a picture with an author! Trust me, you don’t want to be camera-less in those situations. I’ve had nightmares where I meet celebrities without having anything to document it with. You can vlog too!

Bring a snack: You never know if there is going to be food there or how long you will be there for. You could be like Ely and I who only went to the Ruby Circle launch for the food that wasn’t present (we hadn’t read the book but we also wanted to support Richelle lovely Mead). I recommend a non-messy food so it doesn’t get all over your books in your bag. For example, a muesli bar or a small child (Only for cannibals).

Bring money: It’s a bookstore, you need money to buy books. Or if your like Ely on a book buying ban, don’t bring money, because YOU WILL buy books and YOU MAY regret it.

Wear comfortable shoes (Ely’s tip): You never know, there might not be seats and you might have to stand up for the whole time. If you do, come prepared.

Water: Just trust me. If you are not thirsty for some books, you will be thirsty for some water.

Bring a comfortable bag: Don’t be that awkward person (me) who brings a bag that is the most uncomfortable thing ever. Bring a big bag for books like a tote (do you see a trend here?) but not a huge handbag with twenty different pockets and awkward handles so that you will most likely create red welts when you hang it on your shoulder. Just something easy on the shoulders and something that is spacious.

Book/s: Bring the books that you are going to get signed if it is an author event(Or just have a random book to read if you are waiting in a line, because you will most likely be waiting in a line at least one point at the event). Sometimes, there are limitations on how many books you can get signed. For example, I went Cassandra Clare book event and we were only allowed to get three books signed. Most of the time, it is three books.I would bring at least two. And also, sometimes they would like you to buy a book to support the book store so make sure you get there relatively early so your not waiting in too many lines.

Portable phone charger: TRUST ME. THIS SAVES ME EVERYTIME.

And finally, this is not really an object, but dress up to the type of book event. Seriously, don’t be afraid to dress up as a Vampire/werewolf or alien because most likely, there will be costume competition, and there will be prizes, and who doesn’t like free merchandise?

Dominic Sherwood May Not Dye His Hair Blonde For ShadowHunters?

So if you haven’t heard, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare is currently in casting mode for their new TV show “Shadowhunters.” As of now, we know that Jace Wayland will be played by Dominic Sherwood, Simon by Alberto Rosende and Isabelle byEmeraude Toubia.

Now let’s cut to the chase shall we?

Dominic Sherwood is gorgeous. I mean look at him. I wouldn’t mind taking a bite out of him. He has gorgeous eyes, exceptional acting ability and damn that blond- wait, what, he has brown hair? But Jace has blonde hair!

They are going to dye his hair, right?

They can’t just not dye his hair!

One of the main differences that have got fans of the series all worked up is the colour of Dom’s hair. Jace has blonde hair and Dominic obviously does not. Now I bet you are all wondering, will Dom dye his hair?

He might not.

I mean, he might, but there is every chance that he may remain his brunette self for the show.

A lot of other actors that play characters from book to TV show (or movie) adaptations have kept their natural hair colour. For example, Nina Dobrev, a brown haired actress, plays Elena Gilbert, a blonde hair book character, in the book to TV show adaptation of Vampire Diaries. Of course, the show got so much hate from the book fans about Nina Dobrev’s hair in the beginning, but she did not yield. The producers of the show said they had to be realistic. Elena is not all about her hair and they had to assume that the show would keep running for a long time, which is understandable. And look! It has been running for a long time and has been successful without Nina having to dye her hair blonde.

So will Dom dye his hair? Maybe or Maybe not.

Does it matter? Well we all know that TV shows tend to be very different from their book counterparts so what is one more difference? I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t dye his hair. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did either!

Personally, I think he looks much better being a brunette. I can’t see him being a full out blonde and not looking weird.

What do you all think?

Unhaul vs Bookhaul || BOOKTUBE

Hey fellow blog viewers!

So Ely and I are mostly twinning all the time. We have the same opinion on a lot of books, book characters, both have booktube and we finish each others... SANDWICHES. However, sometimes Ely "Unhauls" her books on her channels while I "Haul" books on my channel. So check them out!

Best Friend Book Tag

We don't share our YouTube videos here very often, but last night I (finally) uploaded the Best Friend Book Tag that Chami and I did together and I thought it'd share it here! I hope you all enjoy it :)

COVER REVEAL: The Last King by Millicent Nankivell

Today we are lucky enough to be sharing our amazing friend Millicent's cover reveal for her upcoming book The Last King. Millicent is an absolute inspiration to us and so we're incredibly honoured and excited to show you this amazing cover!

Before that, we've got a couple of amazingly made graphics to share with you to tease you about the book...

Anastasia Avignon has always known she was a witch.

It’s only now that mysterious shadows have begun chasing her that things have started getting weird. Yes, weird even for a witch.

For the sake of her safety, Anastasia has been taken to the Blackthorne Estate, run by Lady Mirabelle Brackens, a friend of her mother’s who she’s never heard of before. There, she meets Warren Brackens and Dara Robbins.

But there's something curious about them. They seem to have access to more power than is normal for any witch...and she’s burning to find out why.

When Anastasia begins displaying unnatural powers of her own, it only fuels her desire to find out more. As a long forgotten curse is revealed, Anastasia finds herself in a tangled web of whispers from the past.

Like many other events in history, fear and shame have concealed the truth behind the fate of the last royal family. So why is it that now, centuries after their defeat, Anastasia is seeing their history everywhere? Why has she suddenly become the target of the one who destroyed them all those years ago?

Anastasia is convinced that Warren and Dara have the answers to her questions, but is the price of their knowledge worth paying?

Now she is being hunted, Anastasia must learn to trust in her own abilities and follow her instincts. But is Anastasia on a path predestined for her, or does she have the power to shape her own?

ADD TO GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25276272-the-last-king

ARE YOU EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK YET?

HOW ABOUT NOW?

Now for the cover... *drum roll*

ABOUT MILLICENT

Most days, Millicent Nankivell believes she is a unicorn. Please don’t ever shatter her illusion.

As far back as she can remember, she has been creating stories that usually involved magic, mythical beasts, and creatures of her own invention. Not much has changed over the years. Well, except for also becoming a hopeless romantic as she got older.

If Millicent isn’t curled up in a dark corner with her laptop, sketch book, or reading a novel, you’ll probably find her out roaming local parks and gardens with her camera. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, and will argue that it is the best Australian city until she’s blue in the face!

MILLICENT'S LINKS

Blog http://www.millicentnankivell.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/millicentnankivelldotcom

Twitter https://twitter.com/millienankivell

Google+ https://plus.google.com/+MillicentNankivelldotcom/posts

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13766624.Millicent_Nankivell

Newsletter http://eepurl.com/bf5npn

Please add The Last King to your Goodreads and spread the word about these amazing book (and cover, CAN WE JUST?) If you haven't already, follow Millicent's blog and prepare to have your life changed!

Thoughts On The Young Adult Genre: DOESN'T COUNT AS LITERATURE.

So the other day I attended a creative writing club meeting. That was all good until I found a friend from that class and started walking back to get lunch. She was nice and it is always good to find people that write like you do and we were having a great conversation until she asked me what type of things I wrote. The conversation went down like this.

Me: Oh well, I read a lot in the Young Adult genre and that is why I like to write in it. I write Young adult.

Her: So you write about vampires?

Vampires.

VAMPIRES.

VAMPIRES. IS THAT WHAT THIS GENRE IS TO YOU?

DEAR GOD WOMEN, SORT OUT YOUR PRIORITIES.

First of all, I am disappointed in myself. Instead of saying that I write young adult, I gave her a reason that I wrote in that genre and of course, that comes of as an insult to YA. I had to explain myself and I really shouldn’t need to. I should be able to just say that I write young adult because I like to.

Now that I’ve got of that my chest, let’s talk about her.

Dear god.

I can’t even.

I hate that people look down on our genre like it is a speck of dust, that it is a lesser than other genres and doesn’t count as literature. The young adult genre is not just about vampires as I’m sure you are all clear about. Yeah, sure, there are a bunch of Young adult books that have vampires but there are just as much that are not Young Adult books. For example, Dracula.

God, I just want to slap people sometimes. Slap them and then throw them off buildings and then suffocate them and then eat them.

They deserve it.

Now this is a quite random post and barely a discussion but I just wanted to write something about it. One day I will write a whole novel on this damn topic and publish it so the whole world can see it, but right now I just wanted to show a piece of ignorance and see if there are any conversations or events like this that have happened to you? Leave them in the comments! I would love to know.