UK vs. US Cover Designs. Which Should I Buy?

I didn’t really have a post planned for today, so I thought I’d do something simple. See, lately, I’ve been thinking about whether or not I want to buy the UK or the US versions of some books. Since this is such a monumental decision, I thought I’d get my fellow book-lovers’ expert opinions.

UK covers

US covers

First up is Kiersten White’s newest trilogy. I have yet to read the books, because I just plan on binging them once the last book releases this summer. However, I’m not 100% sure on which cover design I want more. While I like the UK covers better, I like the fact that the US ones come in a standard US hardcover size. The UK copies will be paperbacks that are a teeny bit shorter than regular US paperback copies.

I have a strong feeling I’ll end up going with the UK covers, but what are you guys’ thoughts?

UK covers

 US covers

The second series is Alwyn Hamilton’s Rebel of the Sands trilogy. I currently own Rebel of the Sands in the US hardcover and Traitor to the Throne in the US paperback. All because of the stupid cover redesign.

This one is tougher than the Kiersten White books, because both versions are appealing. However, I do have to wait for the US paperback of Hero at the Fall to release next year… *sigh* Thank goodness for libraries. They help a lot when there are mean cover changes.

Oh, and the US paperbacks also have that icky Speak logo on the bottom. Penguin Teen, I love you, but the logo you have on your paperbacks is ugly.

Any thoughts?

 

UK covers

 US covers

The third series is V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series. Now, this one comes with a caveat. I own A Darker Shade of Magic, book one, in the US paperback. I plan on reading the book to see if I even want to continue on with the rest of the trilogy. But, if I do want to continue, I have to decide between the UK and US covers. I’m 95% sure the UK covers will win, even though I work at Tor. (Don’t tell the design department I said that.)

Well, what do you think? Which cover sets do you prefer?

Camp NaNoWriMo Update #2

It’s time for my second update of Camp NaNoWriMo. And guess what? There’s not a whole lot to update you on.

I’ve kind of fizzled out on my writing lately. See, the thing is, I’m a genre writer, and not a genre writer in terms of I only write in one genre. I’m a genre writer in terms of, if I’m reading/watching something in a particular genre, that’s what sparks my interest in writing a story in that particular topic. For instance, I was reading a lot of YA fantasy for a while and watching the second season of The Shannara Chronicles, so those stories sparked ideas for my current work in progress.

Now unfortunately, I’m not into the fantasy genre. I don’t mean that I’ll never pick up a fantasy book again, I just mean that, as of this moment, I’m really into paranormal/urban fantasy stuff. Why? Well, because I’ve been obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Can you see why this would be a problem for someone who is trying to write a YA fantasy story with no magic?

Because of this setback, I haven’t written anything since the first day of Camp. I wrote over 600 words that night, but I don’t think I’ll write any more. At least not during this month. I’m just not into the genre right now. Maybe, if I pick up a fantasy book soon, I’ll be able to get a few more hundred words out by April 30, but I just don’t think it’ll happen. I’ve had a lot going in the past few weeks, and there’s more to come. So, I think I’m going to let the prospect of writing this particular novel sit for a while.

That being said, I have had some inspiration for a new story. It’s an adult paranormal series with multiple characters, but it really focuses on one main couple. I haven’t started writing anything. I’ve just jotted down some character notes and plot points, but I’m excited about the prospect of it. And, I may never finish this story either, but it’s fun to think of the possibilities.

Well, that’s my Camp NaNoWriMo update. I don’t think I’ll be doing any more of these posts for the rest of the month, unless I just have a major breakthrough at some point. We shall see…

It's Time to Go on a Book-Buying Budget. *GASP*

Alright, guys. This is a post I’ve been both anticipating writing and completely dreading to write. Why? Because I’m super excited about the idea of it, but I’m super weary about the execution and reason for it.

Basically, this post is all about my book-buying addiction, and how it needs to slow down. Not stop, just slow down. A lot. Therefore, this entire post is about my plans to go on a book-buying budget. Sounds super fun, right?

Now that I have my own full-time job, with my own full-time paycheck, I can buy whatever I want—as long as my bank account can afford whatever it is. And yes, my bank account can afford to buy books, but I just don’t need all of the books at one time. To recap for you, I’ve bought 21 books in less than two months. That’s insane. I can’t read that many books in four months, let alone at the rate I’m buying them. You can see some of the books I’ve bought (plus some that were gifts/review copies) in the photos throughout this post. As you'll see, it’s time for a change.

I’ve been on book-buying bans before. I just didn’t buy a whole heck of a lot of books last year. That was mostly because I was saving up to move to NYC. Now that I’m at NYC, I don’t have to worry as much about saving up. (Although, if I move back to Missouri, I need to worry about saving money for the trip back.) Then, though, I had a real goal in mind. I couldn’t buy books because otherwise, I couldn’t afford NYC.

I’ve never been on a budget before though. At least, not when it comes to books. I came up with this budget plan last month, and I promptly failed at it in January; however, I think January was just a crazy special case. There were a bunch of author events happening in January, plus, I’d just decided to do the book budget in the middle of January. So half the month had already gone by by the time I made the decision to budget. To fix this, I decided not to start my budgeting until February, and so far, it’s still intact.

My book budgets is this: I can buy as many books as I want as long as I don’t spend more than $75/month on books. The only thing this won’t include is June’s BookCon, which I’m hoping to go to this year. 

The reason I chose $75 as my limit is because a year of $75 purchases will lead to under roughly one total paycheck (after taxes). This means I’ve only lost two weeks of my life at work towards buying books, some of which I haven’t even read yet.

For February, I’m doing pretty well. I’ve spent $53-ish on books, so I have $22 left. I actually don’t plan on spending that $22. Now, I’m not letting my leftover money rollover to the next month. If I don’t buy a book in March for example, that $75 doesn’t contribute towards April’s budget for a total of $150. However, if I go over budget in March, then the amount I’m over will detract from April’s budget. Make sense?

I’m really hoping this plan works out. It’s not that I don’t want a bunch of books. My dream in life is to own a house somewhere with a giant library of books. I just can’t afford to keep spending money on them, especially if I move out of NYC next year.

I’m crossing my fingers that this goes smoothly.

Do you have a book-buying budget? If not, how do you keep from buying all the books? Let me know in the comments.

My Thoughts on the Love, Simon Trailer

I thought I’d share my thoughts and feels about the newly released Love, Simon trailer. In case you haven’t seen it, I’ve posted it below:

My thoughts before watching the trailer: Okay, so I have to admit before I even get into the trailer review that I’ve been getting a little sick of hearing about Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. (And, in case you don’t know, Simon vs. was a YA contemporary gay love story that’s been adapted for the big screen and renamed Love, Simon.)

I LOVED Simon vs. when I first read it. It was cute and fun and totally adorable. However, people just won’t shut up about it on Twitter. It’s gotten to the point where the hype has almost killed it for me, which makes me a little sad. Hopefully the movie trailer fixes that.

My thoughts after watching the trailer: LOL. That ending, though. Everything else pales in comparison to that line: “Oh, God. Help me Jesus.” I’m just going to rewatch that snippet over and over again.

But seriously, it was a good trailer. It’s got a nice, contemporary outline and feel to it. Simon narrates his life and his woes to the world, and we listen with bated breath.

It’s cute. I love the casting choices, minus one detail that I won’t even bother mentioning. Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel look fabulous, and Nick Robinson is alright. I originally loved his casting choice, but he does look a little old in the trailer to be playing a teen. Not sure how I feel about that. (Nick’s age isn’t the detail I’m not going to mention.)

I’m not over-the-moon about the trailer, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing this movie in theaters as long as I have the $$$ to do so. I also really need to reread the book because I don’t know if half the things in the trailer are book events or not. *sigh* The life of a reader…

The Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

Surprise! Another tag post! I think I’ve done more tag posts in the past few months than I have in my entire time blogging. Weird.

The tag I’m doing today is an oldie, but a goodie. It’s called the Unpopular Opinions Book Tag, and it was created by TheBookArcher. No one tagged me for this post; I just thought it was time I actually made my unpopular opinions known.

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A popular book or series that you didn’t like

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

This one is a weird one. I adored Maggie’s Shiver trilogy. It was beautiful and lyrical and everything I wanted in high school. Scorpio Races was a good read as well. Then, I read The Raven Boys, and I thought it was “meh.” Everyone else, though, they thought it was DA BOMB. I don’t know if I’m missing something or what, but I sometimes feel like I’m all alone in my little bubble of feelings.

Who knows, maybe I’ll give this book another shot later, but for now, it’s one that I was very disappointed in.

A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Admittedly, not everyone hates this series, but I find that a lot of people dis on the first book. I absolutely LOVED the first book. It was amazing and action-packed. I’m not sure why people hate on it so much…

A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did not want them to end up with

SPOILERS FOR ANDREA CREMER’S NIGHTSHADE SERIES

In Bloodrose, the third book in Andrea Cremer’s Nightshade trilogy, Calla ends up with Shay. SHAY! I don’t like him. I was furious whenever this book originally came out. I think it was the first time I ever read a ton of Goodreads reviews, just so I could find fellow readers who were as mad as I was.

A popular book genre that you hardly reach for

This is a tough one. I read contemporary, fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, romance, and many other genres. I guess, if I had to choose, I’d say magical realism. I don’t even really know how many books with magical realism elements are out there; I just know that I don’t particularly like the genre. However, maybe I simply haven’t read the right book yet…

A popular or beloved character that you do not like

I have two: Warner from Taherah Mafi’s Shatter Me series and Rhys from Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

I don’t like Warner because of his actions in the first two books in the series, and I refuse to read the other two and half books simply because other people believe they redeem him. He is a horrible person. Also, I hate it when authors randomly switch the love interest in the middle of a series when, for the majority of the plot, the character has been with one person. I loathe getting invested in one guy only to have to switch allegiances to another.

Speaking of switching love interests, I have yet to read any of the sequels to ACOTAR, simply because I enjoyed Tamlin’s character in the first book. Apparently though, he turns into a raging a$$hole in the second book. I just don’t get why SJM even had Tamlin as the main reason Feyre was introduced to this world instead of making Rhys the original love interest and intro to the fae world.

Whew. That was a long rant. Moving on.

A popular author that you can’t seem to get into

E. Lockhart seems to be a big name in the YA community. None of her books sound that interesting to me, though.

A popular trope that you’re tired of seeing

Is it wrong that I’m tired of the lone wolf, girl assassin trope in YA? I think it’s great that female characters are taking on these roles in fantasy books that typically belonged to men, but it’s hard to make the YA version gritty enough. If an author is going to write an assassin, she needs to be AN ASSASSIN with all the skills and grit that comes with the role. And, personally, I don’t want to read about a character who kills people for a living unless she’s got a really good backstory.

A popular series that you have no interest in reading

Lauren Oliver’s new series that you can flip the books over and read from a different character’s POV, the Replica series. I just don’t have any desire to pick it up. #sorrynotsorry

The saying goes “the book is always better than the movie” but what movie or TV show adaptation do you prefer over the book?

Another tough question. I guess, for now, I’m going to go with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Not because I hated HP3 or anything, but because HP3 was my least favorite of the HP books. Despite that, HP3 is one of, if not my favorite movie in the franchise.

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Alright, there you have it. Those are some of my unpopular opinions. I know that a few may be controversial, but I just can’t help it. They’re my opinions, and I’m sticking to them. ;)

What are some of your unpopular opinions? Let me know in the comments.

My Favorite Bookish Décor Items

Alright, ya’ll, it’s time to talk about bookish décor.

We all know that we secretly love our nerdy collectibles. I know I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter Funkos and Game of Thrones action figures. But something I wish I had more of are the many items people get to decorate their houses.

Basically, I want my entire apartment to be a giant nerd/geek fest.

For kicks and giggles, I thought I’d share a few of the bookish décor items that I love. This post was inspired by Havenly, the interior design and decorating service.

Oh, and a quick note: You can find a majority of these items and more on my Bookish Décor Pinterest board.

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Okay, so one of the more recent bookish décor items that I’ve been wanting are the Hogwarts coasters I saw in a book subscription box. I believe it was Uppercase.

I have my own Hogwarts coaster (one, singular coaster) that I made using bathroom tiles and Mod Podge, but these things look way cooler.

And look at these Game of Thrones ones! Me wants!

I use the coasters I have constantly, so having more would be awesome!

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The next bookish décor item on my wish list is a set of bookends. 

While most of my shelves are too packed to really need bookends, I’ve always wanted some. And, if I had a set as cool as these, I could die a happy bookworm.

Okay, so I’m pretty much a sucker for any type of décor that involves Game of Thrones. While these aren’t explicitly Game of Thrones bookends, they are dragon eggs, and I feel like there’s a certain set of dragon eggs that are very similar to these on the show…

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And, of course, no room would be complete without book-related throw pillows!

I love ones that have quotes on them, book-related images, or even just fun sayings about reading.

Also, if you remember, I did a DIY project with a friend two years ago to create my own Harry Potter throw pillows. 

I wish I had the free time to do stuff like that now. I would love to go crazy and DIY my room so it’s a bookish mess!

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Last but certainly not least, I don’t think any bookish décor list would be complete without this next item:

Yep, that’s right. I want a book ladder. Honestly, I really just want to be Belle and sing and swing throughout a room-full of books. It would be marvelous. Let’s be honest, though, I’d also just love a wall of bookshelves.

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Alright, there you have it. Those are some bookish décor items that I’m stowing away for when I have my own house that I can decorate as I please. It’ll look like a bunch of geeks threw up all over!

What bookish décor is on your must-have list?

Inside & Out Book Tag

My second tag post in two weeks. Can you tell I’m running out of post ideas?

This particular tag is called the Inside & Out tag, and it was created by MathomBooks. I originally found it on A Backpack Full of Adventures.

Well, here goes…

I Inside flap/back of the book summaries: Too much info or not enough?

Inside flap is generally too much. I tend to skim it, but the back is never enough. I guess I need a balance between the two.

N New book: What form do you want it in? Audiobook, ebook, paperback, or hardcover?

HARDCOVER. Don’t get me wrong, I like my paperbacks and ebooks as much as the next person, but hardcover is so much easier to keep safe.

S Scribble while you read? Do you like to write, take notes, or make comments in your books? Or do you keep your books clean? (Tell us why)

I don’t take notes in books unless it’s a textbook. I keep my books very clean. Even the dustjackets must be spotless.

I In your best voice, read for us your favorite 1^st sentence from a book.

Since this is a blog, and not a vlog, I’ll just share it with you in text form. Also, I don’t really know my favorite first sentence from a book. The only quote I can really remember loving at this moment is from Victoria Aveyard’s King’s Cage, and it’s kind of SPOILERY, so skip this answer if you haven’t read the series yet.

I love your brother, Maven. You were right. You are only a shadow, and who looks at shadows when they have flame? Who would ever choose a monster over a god? – Victoria Aveyard, King’s Cage

D Does it matter to you whether the author is male or female when you’re deciding on a book? What if you’re unsure of the author’s gender?

This depends. If I’m looking for a romance-heavy book, I’m probably going to go with a female author. I want descriptions of cute boys. However, if I want fantasy, action, sci-fi, etc., the gender of the author doesn’t matter.

E Ever read ahead or have you ever read the last page way before you got there?

I don’t read ahead. I used to skim-read back in high school when a book was boring me, though. Now, I do take a peek at the last page, but most of the time it’s to check how many pages there are in the book. Sometimes, this leads to spoilers.

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O Organized bookshelves or outrageous bookshelves?

I like my shelves to be organized, but right now, I’m living in a new apartment with no bookshelves. My books are not in a good place right now. The ones I left at my parents’ house, however, are semi-organized and arranged how I want them. I still need three or more empty bookcases to really organize them all how I want.

U Under oath: Have you ever bought a book based on the cover alone?

Nope. I may think it’s pretty, but I won’t buy a book unless the inside is somewhat interesting to me.

T Take it outside to read or stay in?

STAY IN. I can’t read outside. I’ve tried. I prefer laying in my bed or on a couch by myself with no distractions around.

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Alright, there you have it. Those are my answers to the Inside & Out tag.

What are some of your answers to these questions?