Top Ten Tuesday - Recent Editions to Our TBR's

Hosts - The Broke and the Bookish | Details - Top Ten Tuesday Feature

Stacie

1. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson: Ok.. I know everyone by now has pretty much heard of Mr Sanderson but I was very late to the party and now he's all I can think about reading.
   
2. Every Breath by Ellie Marney: I'm a bit of a sucker for contemporaries and this one sounds pretty good, plus the series just ended (I think..?) so when I get it, I'll get them all and marathon them
   
3. Soulmates by Holly Bourne:  I read The Manifesto on How to be Interesting a while ago and it was pretty good so I'm looking forward to more of her work.
4. Sisters of Blood and Spirit by Kady Cross: 1. I love fantasy. 2. A lot of people seem to be talking about this lately. 3. That cover... enough said.
   
5. Soundless by Richelle Mead: If you don't know how much I love Richelle Mead by now you either weren't listening properly or I haven't been saying it enough haha. I can't wait to try her new series (and you know.. get around to get to her adult series)

1. Conversion by Katherine Howe: The first review books of the list (they all are). I love witches and I really don't read enough stories about them. This intrigued me so I just had to request it.
   
2. My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend by Eleanor Wood: This sounds like such a fluffy and fun read, it isn't with my by the time of writing this but hopefully it will be before the post goes live as I'm really looking forward to it.
   
3. Day Four by Sarah Lotz: I have both The Tree and Day Four for review, I'm really trying to get back into my adult fiction and have a more balanced taste. The books sound really creepy so here's hoping I like them.
4. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: Another book that seems like a really fun and easy read. (also it's a contemporary so duh!)
   
5. Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry: I don't really need to explain this one do I? nah, I didn't think so :P

Amanda

    

1. The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle: This is a book I've been lucky enough to receive a review copy of and it sounds just extremely interesting and tempting. 'Accidents' happening during a particular time period, lots of mystery and unanswered questions, count me in!
2. The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: I LOVED Jennifer Lynn Barnes other work The Naturals, and her paranormal stuff doesn't appeal too much, but this, this is mystery and sisters and covering up crimes and so much good stuff, I just need it as soon as possible.
3. We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean: Am I shallow if I say this book hit my TBR because of it's cover and it's premise, because that's it people, it's creepy and beautiful, perfect combination.
4. A Step Toward Falling by McGovern: This book sounds like it could hurt, emotionally, a lot, and sad books work with me if done well, and this sounds like a real repercussions book, and the cover is beautiful, so duh.
5. The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse: Oh my days, a book that isn't to be released this year, what is this madness?! No, seriously, I've known about this book for, forever, and yet, I only really read the premise the other day, holy batman, why have I not read this yet? It sounds, brilliant.

    

1. Placebo Junkies by J.C. Carleson: This and the following book just sound so up my alley, drugs, mystery, danger, school kids, lots of the cool cool things, and I'm just drawn to it, it sounds lke it could be such a 'me' book.
2. Sleepless by Lou Morgan: As with the previous, this sounds so utterly great, and I read Flesh and Blood, part of the companion series and that was brilliant, I expect great things.
3. Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones: One of the more 'I'm creeping on you book' books, and that's fair, because I've gone on and off this book so many times, but right now, I'm on it. talented, gifted kids, FBI's, mystery, powers, drugs - I'm sensing a theme here..
4. Black Iris by Leah Reader: Bekka LOVED this book, and it sounds amazing, and it's got the female/female love and romance and it's passionate and oh my god somebody give me this yesterday, please.
5. Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between: As with Smith's other release this year, I'm hanging on this one. I own her other three, and am eager to read this one, it sounds so sweet and so sad and the cover is all purple and all gorgeous, yes please.

What's been recently added to your TBR's, let us know!

4 Things That Make Me Click To Read Content

One of the misconceptions behind blogging is that just by putting your content out there, people will see it, and that's not true. If you want people to see your content you've been working on for hours, you need to do more than just press 'post' or 'publish', you need to promote it, because without promotion, you'll have no readers, and without readers, you'll have no views, and whether we like to admit it or not, views are important, they define you, they make you aware of what you're doing, how you're doing it, and allow yourself to ask questions. The most common of the questions I ask myself regularly is 'would I read this if somebody else wrote it?' It's what encourages me to strive for better content, it's what reminds me that I need to promote, that I need to make everything I write appealing to you, otherwise you'd never read it, and I'd have wasted my time entirely.

Weekly Recap | 23-29 Mar. 2015

Welcome to Beautiful Bookish Butterflies Weekly Recap. Once a week, Stacie and Amanda take the time to talk about the weeks goings on, both on the blog and in our lives elsewhere, any new books we may have received and want to mention and what's interested is within the blogging community. Stacie and Amanda link up this recap with Caffeinated Book Reviewers Sunday Post and occasionally Tynga Reviews' Stacking the Shelves.

Take Our Survey!

Our survey is still open, and we'd still really like your input and would love to know what you think of Beautiful Bookish Butterflies. It'll only take a few minutes with really simple, easy questions, and you'll be helping us, a lot. For our Blog Survey post, follow that link, or to for a direct link to the survey, click here.

What You May Have Missed:

- Book Review: Half Wild by Sally Green
- Book Review: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
- Bookish Musings: So You Don't Like Writing Reviews..
- Book Review: Made For You by Melissa Marr
- Five Friday Favourites: Cover's of Books I'll Never Read
- Book Review: Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
- Personal Pickings - The Show That Hijacked Stacie's Heart

Elsewhere Online:
- Amanda was featured on The Book Addicts Guides Book and a Beverage
- Amanda also reviewed We Are All Made of Molecules by Susan Neilsen

Our Lives This Week:

Stacie:

As you may or may not remember from last weeks catch, I talked about my other half being on earlies at work this week. He had to be up at 4 and despite how silent he tried to be, it woke me up and I found it hard to go back to sleep. That would be bad enough if you didn't add my daughter waking up twice this week at around half 1 thinking it was time to get up and not going back to sleep till at least 3, so this week I have been literally running on empty and it's now half term, what joy! Which means I'm not going to have a lot of sleep again for two weeks and in all honesty I'm pretty sick of feeling exhausted all the bloody time, it's horrible. So yeah.. my week hasn't been too good. I'm currently writing this before I take Caitlyn to a party so I have to put up with a room full of kids and noise and blah, not looking forward to it.

Best of March:

       

This month hasn't really been the best for reading for me, I've gone a week or two only reading a few books and a week of reading 5 books, so it's been up an down a bit. I think the book I was most surprised at would be Mindwalkers. I got it for review after requesting it just to give it a go and I never thought I would like it as much as I did, it was a really interesting book. I've read my air share of fluffy contemporaries this month and I think I'll Give You The Sun was my favourite, I liked The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson but this book was just in a different league. I also finally got around to reading Half Bad by Sally Green and it was actually really good. I borrowed it from the library in October last year but after getting about 100 pages in I just wasn’t feeling it, not because of the book but just because I really wasn't in the mood. So after Amanda (and everyone) going on and on about it I borrowed it again and I'll be honest, it didn't wow me but I was hooked page for page and I did enjoy it.

Amanda:

This week was a whole manner of nice things, things that made the month end just that little bit more positively. First of all, I didn't really get the opportunity to talk about some of the nice things that occurred days before the last Weekly Recap, but Saturday was a really nice day that involved a lovely dinner with my best friend, a trip around our local shops and then an evening of TV and snuggles, something I definitely needed. Then I got myself a copy of Fire Fall by Bethany Frenette this week, which was just the best feeling in the entire the world, seriously, you do not understand how much this series means to me. Then, Friday came along and saw my best friend and I celebrate her starting a new job with some drinks, pizza and lots of films and tipsy conversations, which is almost always a wonderful thing. Oh, and I also dog-sat my uncles little devil of a dog on Saturday afternoon/evening too, which means I can actually start preparing for Christmas with money, yay! As weeks go, this has been a lovely one, even if I have been nursing being ill (again!) and a great almost ending to quite a mixed up, weird feeling month.

Best Reads of March

 

    

March has been both a great one for books and a terrible one at the same time. Where I've usually read about 14 books per month, so far this month I've read 7, and I'm currently reading two more. That's 9 people, 1 book more than in December which is usually really busy, BUT, the books I have read, minus one (which I will not talk about, such a disappointment!) have all been 4 stars upwards, as are the two I'm currently making my way through. Honestly, even though I've only featured two of the books, you need to read the others - Flesh and Blood, Half Wild, Burn Bright and Red Queen - my average rating this month has gone up by over 1.3 stars, I've been loving the books I read and really have some cracking reviews coming up. I'm obviously hoping to improve upon this amount next month with my many series reads, if I can push myself, but there's a lot of exciting books coming up to read, and some really great review copies too. Maybe I didn't have the most ravenous week of eating books, but I sure loved what I ate read.

What We Liked This Week:

- Cait talked about how she's always forgetting things and John Green
- Bekka talked about male POV's in general fiction
- Amber talked all things space and planets
- Bec talked about blogging slumps and reviewing
- Brittany shared some blogger spotlight features in the community
- Danielle shared some popular 2015 cover trends
- Cait created an Author Memory Test
- Asti talked about reuniting with books

Tell Us What's Been Happening in Your Week!

Also, answer us this: What feelings would you have towards us redesigning BBB.

Tell us what you currently like and what you'd like to see, your opinion matters!

Personal Pickings - The Show That Hijacked Stacie's Heart

Personal Pickings is a feature here at Beautiful Bookish Butterflies that allows one of us to approach subject personal to us that has no link or connection to our bookish endeavors. Today, Stacie is talking about one show in particular that she a great love affair with. If she's not reading she can be found discussing the show with her sister's or watching reruns. Her goal today is to get more people thinking about or talking about the show, and hopefully not just fangirl the entire post.

Five Friday Favourites - Covers Of Books I'll Never Read

Feature Details and Participation: Five Friday Favourites
Although I'm an avid reader, and although I like to read, there are many books that fellow blogging friends have read that I will never read. It's not to say that these books are bad - god no, some of them sound fantastic, but it could be anything, from a time period it's set in, to the author maybe not hitting it off with me (through their writing of course, we hardly go out on dinner dates, I'm not that lucky people), but that doesn't stop me falling head over heals in love with their covers when they're not looking. I'm like a book pigeon, coo'ing at the pretty books, but who is also shooting way out of my comfort zone. In fact, I've been known to push myself into reading a book I had a feeling I wouldn't like, just to justify having the pretty cover, even if it was for a short amount of time.. I fall in love with book covers from books I will never read, it's an issue I have, like a sub-issue from my overall issue of loving book covers, and what better way to indorse such an issue than to showcase my favourites?

Book Review - Blood of Olympus

Blood of Olympus
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Heroes of Olympus #5
Genres: Mythology, Urban Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th October 2014
Publishers: Puffin
No. Pages: 592
Source: Borrowed
Rating:

Though the Greek and Roman crew-members of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen - all of them, and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood - the blood of Olympus - in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it might be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already.

And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

Book Review - Made For You

Made For You
Author: Melissa Marr
Standalone
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal | Young Adult
Release Date: 16th September 2014
Publishers: HarperCollins
No. Pages: 368
Source: Review Copy - HarperCollins
Rating:

When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she's confused - who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people's deaths when they touch her.

While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends - and themselves - alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.

Made For You is a book that I had been dying to read for a long time but knew next to nothing about, the one and only thing I knew about it was that it was suppose to be a pretty creepy read (that and Amanda fangirled pretty hard over it). I purposely kept away from reviews or mentions of it because I've been wanting to read the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr and I had read her Carnival of Secrets book but it was so long ago that I really cant remember much about the story of her writing style, so I really wanted everything to be a surprise. Right from the start I had a good feeling about it, it was creepy and mysterious just like I was hoping and I enjoyed the way the story was laid out. I loved that the killer had his own voice and it gave pretty much nothing away, but as the story went on little things just started to get on my nerves and that's why I sadly I only gave it a 3.5 stars.

5 Things People Who Hate Writing Reviews Can Do

There's a general consensus that reviews are the least liked posts in the blogosphere. They're the posts that people skip reading, the posts that generally take the longest to write, and they aren't just easily plucked out of thin air, I mean, you've actually got to do an entirely different activity before you can even write anything, unlike discussions posts such as this that can go from idea to words in a matter of seconds. In fact, I've been seeing a lot of the same phrases lately concerning book reviews:

• 'I'm never in the mood to write reviews.'
• 'I just can't bring myself to sit and write them.'
• 'I've got a backlog of reviews I just don't want to write'
• 'I don't read enough to be able to create constant review content.'
• 'Reviews are the least liked, so I like writing them least.'

The list could go on and on, but the general vibe is that reviews are demanding little buggers that want you to sit down and come up with fabulous words that will more than likely not encourage other people to read said book, because lets face it, if you haven't heard of the book, seen the book, or read the book, you probably won't be clicking that 'read more' button, will you?

Book Review - I'll Give You the Sun

I'll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: April 2nd 2015
Publishers: Walker Books
No. Pages: 412
Source: Review Copy - Walker Books
Rating:

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking.

Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways.. until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else — an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

So to say this book was very high on my wishlist would be nothing short of an understatement. The minuet I first heard about it I knew that I had to have it, even before I put two and two together and figured out it was the same author who did The Sky is Everywhere. Though that book had sat on my TBR list from many years and I had no previous experience with her writing, I was excited. However when it came out I completely forgot about it, I kept forgetting to buy it and it seemed like for a while it was going to just pass me by, until that is I got an email from Lovereading4kids offering me the opportunity to read it (I should note too that it was them that gave me the chance to read The Sky is Everywhere haha). Obviously I jumped at the chance and though I had to wait a few weeks due to issues, my excitement just grew and grew. I dived straight into the book the minuet it turned up at my house and right from the beginning I could tell that I was going to love the story.

Book Review - Half Wild

Half Wild
Author: Sally Green
Series: Half Life #2
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 24th March 2015
Publishers: Penguin
No. Pages: 384
Source: Review Copy - Penguin
Rating:

After finally meeting his elusive father, Marcus, and receiving the three gifts that confirm him as a full adult witch, Nathan is still on the run. He needs to find his friend Gabriel and rescue Annalise, now a prisoner of the powerful Black witch Mercury. Most of all he needs to learn how to control his Gift - a strange, wild new power that threatens to overwhelm him.

Meanwhile, Soul O'Brien has seized control of the Council of White Witches and is expanding his war against Black witches into Europe. In response, an unprecedented alliance has formed between Black and White witches determined to resist him. Drawn into the rebellion by the enigmatic Black witch Van Dal, Nathan finds himself fighting alongside both old friends and old enemies. But can all the rebels be trusted, or is Nathan walking into a trap?

Weekly Recap 16-21 Mar. 2015

Welcome to Beautiful Bookish Butterflies Weekly Recap. Once a week, Stacie and Amanda take the time to talk about the weeks goings on, both on the blog and in our lives elsewhere, any new books we may have received and want to mention and what's interested is within the blogging community. Stacie and Amanda link up this recap with Caffeinated Book Reviewers Sunday Post and occasionally Tynga Reviews' Stacking the Shelves.

Take Our Survey!

Our survey is still open, and we'd still really like your input and would love to know what you think of Beautiful Bookish Butterflies. It'll only take a few minutes with really simple, easy questions, and you'll be helping us, a lot. For our Blog Survey post, follow that link, or to for a direct link to the survey, click here.

News Concerning Month of Series..

Due to a lack of participants, we've come to the decisions to not host a huge event for Month of Series which saddens us and is a little disappointing, but due to other commitments and changes in circumstances, we both don't think we can honestly handle the extra commitment, so, anyone who is still interested in posting series related discussions or posts, feel free to link them Amanda on Twitter @BookBadger_ and she'll still promote them as she would have anyway, and there will still be the opportunity for a giveaway near the end of the month via a game. If you still want to personally challenge yourself, then please, do feel free, we're just sorry we cannot help encourage you all. Thank you again.

What You May Have Missed:

- Book Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
- Top Ten Tuesday: Books on our Spring 2015 TBR
- Booking Musings: Lovereading(4kids): UK Review Opportunities
- Book Review: The Assassins Blade by Sarah J. Maas
- Who Wore It Better: The Well of Ascension
- Film Review: Mockingjay: Part 1 (the Hunger Games)
- Book Review: Flirty Dancing by Jenny McLachlan

Our Lives This Week:

Stacie:

So this week Caitlyn had chickenpox and was off school since Tuesday. I love her dearly, but because she hasn't been sick with it and her normal self, she's be bored at home and hasn't sat still, nothing I suggested or tried to do with her worked, she just didn't want to do anything. I really feel like I need a complete day to myself just to relax,  I feel really tightly wound at the moment and that's horrible to say but it's how I feel. Caitlyn has so much energy, like more than the average kid, and she's on the go from the minuet she wakes up till the second she goes to sleep, so not being able to take her out and having her say no to every suggestion was a bit stressful. Glenn's on earlies next week, 6am till 2pm so I might ask him to pick her and I'll go to my mums for the day.

 

This week I received two physical ARCs, Mindwalker and The Last Summer of Us. I've already read The Last Summer of Us and I thought it was a really nice read, it didn't blow me away but as far as perfectly flowing contemporary goes it was bang on. I'm currently reading Mindwalker and its got this wonderfully unique summary, I'm only about 80 pages in but I have a really good feeling about it. As far as reading this week I actually managed to get through 4 books, all review copies so I'm feeling like I've got my flow back finally haha. I also received Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda which sounds rather fun and I will be receiving a copy of The Three sometime soon which sounds like a super duper spooky read (I got an email yesterday saying I won a copy of Day Four from Goodreads so I can marathon the two). Very good week for books I would say :D

Amanda:

Er.. things got a little hectic, shocking and surprising this week when we're talking personal. I had a few off days - actually, I've been having a few off weeks, but someone encouraged me to go back to the doctors and see if there was anything that could be done, so, that's happening soon, and it feels like admitting to being weak sometimes, that I have to go back, but it also feels like admitting that somethings gone not right again and that I want to undo that not right-ness. Alongside that, my Nanna went back into hospital Tuesday into Wednesday and while it was nothing seriously serious this time, she's definitely not a spring chicken anymore, and for as long as she refuses to confront that, the more worrying she'll have us all doing, but for now, she's doing okay. Bringing up the rear with some positive news though, do any of you remember aaaaaaaall the way back in May of last year (the last time Nanna was in hospital) and I started making an effort to change my eating and lose some weight? Well, drum roll please.. I've lost a total of 56 pounds since 26th May 2014, that's 4 stone! I'm aware it's not the biggest weight loss in history, but, that feels like a lot to me, and I've lost 4 (3½ really, damn awkward sizes) sizes in my jeans, and almost 3 sizes in my tops. It's definitely made my mood a little lighter and made me realise that even when things are looking doom and gloom, I've made progress in something.

  

Just some of what's been happening on Instagram.
Book wise, you've probably notice that lately, I haven't been reading quite as much as I would usually (see my iffy few weeks as mentioned above), and it definitely bled through into the beginning of this week, however, I gave myself a kick up the ass and decided I needed to sort myself out and read Red Queen, which was actually pretty good which surprised me, Killer Instinct, which was just as good as it's prequel, some of The Last Summer of Us which is a buddy read with Stacie and *whispers* I started A Court of Thorns and Roses which so far, is.. good? It's not been my biggest reading week, nor month, but I'm seriously trying my best to get back into it. I've also received a few really interesting sounding books lately such as The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle, Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, Me Being Me is Exactly As Insane as You Being You by Todd Hasak-Lowy and Conversion by Katherine Lowe, but there are many other books I've gotten copies of and hope to read soon, so wish me luck!

What We Liked This Week:

- Nitzan asked: are mediocre books worse than bad books?
- Brittany paired young adult books with friends
- Asti asked: where my ugly in young adult at?
- Kelley explored Tarot in the Empath
- Nova talked about one star reviews
- Amanda talked about the joy of binge reading series

Tell Us What's Been Happening in Your Week!

Book Review - Flirty Dancing

Flirty Dancing
Author: Jenny McLachlan
Series: Ladybirds #1
Genres: Contemporary | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 3rd July 2014
Publishers: Bloomsbury
No. Pages: 300
Source: Purchased
Rating: 

Bea Hogg is shy but fiery inside. When national dance competition Starwars comes to her school looking for talent, she wants to sign up. It's just a shame her best friend agreed to enter with school super-cow Pearl Harris. Bea will fight back!

But when school hottie, Ollie Matthews, who also happens to be Pearl’s boyfriend, decides to enter the competition with Bea, she will have more than a fight on her hands..

Film Review - Mockingjay: Part 1

Mockingjay: Part 1
Director: Francis Lawrence
Genres: Science Fiction | Young Adult
Duration: 123 minutes
Release Date: 21st November 2014
IMDB Rating: 
Butterfly Rating: 
Trailer: See Here

With the Games destroyed, Katniss Everdeen, along with Gale, Finnick and Beetee, end up in the so thought 'destroyed' District 13.

Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her friends, Katniss becomes the 'Mockingjay', the symbol of rebellion for the districts of Panem.

Fire is catching.. and if the districts burn, Panem burns with them.