intimidating tbr tag

Hello!
Nobody actually tagged me to do this but I still really wanted to so here I am. This tag has been going around booktube a while ago so I am quite late to the game. Bear with me, I'm not up to date with many things.
Anyway, here we go with the questions:

1. A book on your tbr pile that you haven't finished
Well... there are none. Usually, when I dnf a book, I really dnf it. I don't just put it aside for later, I really unhaul it and most of the time, books don't get second chances with me (though maybe I'll try to change that in the future). So all of the books on my tbr pile are completely and utterly unread.

2. A book you just haven't had the time to read for
For this one I'm going to go with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I'm not the biggest classics fan and it always takes a lot of time for me to read them. It's not really that I didn't have time to read it yet (I am a strong believer of the theory you don't need to have time, you just got to make time) but I didn't want to make the effort and really invest my time in reading it. But I really want to this year!

3. A book you haven't read because it's a sequel
I don't have any sequels on my tbr because usually I pick sequels up quite quickly after I got them, but there are a lot of sequels that I still want to get so even though technically, it's not on my tbr pile (yet), I'm going to go with Darkness Follows by L.A. Weatherly. I read Broken Sky, the first book in this trilogy, last month and although I really do want to finish the trilogy, I haven't acccumulated the other two books. I will in the near future though. At least I hope I will.

that's the first book... obviously

4. A book you haven't read because it's brand new
The latest addition to my tbr pile would be They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera and I do plan on picking this up next month. The book itself is not brand new (I think it came out last year) but it's brand new on my tbr, I only got it last week. And I'm dying to read it, I just love Adam Silvera so much!

5. A book by an author you read previously and didn't really like
Again, I have no book for this one. I try to pick up only one book per author at a time (at least for the authors I don't know yet) so I can still decide whether I want to read more books by that author after having read one book. I still want to talk about one particular book for this question: Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts. It's not that I didn't like the books by her I read before but I guess I kind of outgrew my Nora Roberts phase so I am a bit hesitant to pick this up.

6. A book on your tbr pile that you're just not in the mood to read
I guess that would be The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I have heard so many amazing things about this book and I know I would probably love it but I haven't been in the mood for historical fiction lately at all so I assume it's still gonna sit on my tbr pile for some time in the future. But I do want to read it eventually!

7. A book on your tbr pile that you haven't read because it's enormous
That's definitely A Secret History by Donna Tartt. I loved The Goldfinch by her but it took me a long time to read that one so I guess I will need quite some time to finish A Secret History too which is exactly why I haven't picked it up yet.

this is the German cover btw

8. A book on your tbr you bought because of the cover
For this I'm going to go with The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I will probably still like the book though so I didn't solely buy it because of the cover but still... I have absolutely no idea when I'll get to it. So many books, so little time.

9. The book on your tbr you find the most intimidating
I'm gonna go with 1984 by George Orwell for that one. Not only because the font of my copy is tiny but also because it's quite old (it was published in 1949) and a lot of the time, I'm struggling with older books because I don't like the writing style. But still, I know I will read this eventually - not in the nearest future, but some day I will.

So those were the most intimidating books on my tbr pile... maybe I'll do the tag again in a year or two to see how my tbr changed till then. If it changes at all. Which I hope it will, haha.
What is your most intimidating book on your tbr? I would really like to know, leave me your answer in the comments!
xxx

top 10 most anticipated releases | summer 2018

Hi everyone!
There are so many books coming out this summer, I bet I won't have any money left by September. Anyway, I still want to show you the June till August releases I'm most exited about and maybe you can also add some of them to your tbr!

Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl (June 5) 

A year after graduation, Beatrice meets up with her former friends for a night, thinking she's going to find out what really happened on the day her boyfriend died. Then, the group gets surprised by a man knocking on their door, demanding from them to make a decision that is going to put their lives at stake.

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I've heard so many people rave about Marisha Pessls "Night Film" and the synopsis for "Neverworld Wake" sounds very intriguing to me so I'm very exited to be reading this!

Save the Date by Morgan Matson (June 5)
Charlie's sister is getting married over the weekend and she's very exited to be reunited with all of her siblings one last time before everything changes for her. Only the weekend isn't going quite as well as she has planned because some disturbances occur and on top of that, Charlie gets distracted by the cute wedding planner's nephew...

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I'm a huge fan of Morgan Matsons other books; they're all perfect summer reads and I can't wait to see what she's come up with now! I'm definitely going to be taking this book with me on vacation and have a cute, summery read!

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir (June 12)
I'm not gonna sum up the book since it's the third book in a series and I don't want to spoil anyone who hasn't read the first two, so instead I'm gonna give a short summary on the first book, An Ember in the Ashes: So basically, the series follows two main characters, Elias and Laia who live in a fantasy world based on the Roman empire. In the beginning, Laia watches her grandparents get murdered and her brother abducted. She gets herself enslaved to find out what happened to him. She crosses paths with Elias, who is a soldier in the very military which is responsible for the abduction of Laias brother. The story goes on from there and takes Elias and Laia on a wild journey which I'm very exited to follow in the third book.
I might want to reread the first two though to refresh my memory before I'll dive into A Reaper at the Gates but overall, I can't wait to read it!

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My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows and Brodi Ashton (June 26)
"My Plain Jane" is the second volume in The Lady Janies series and this time, we're following a (maybe not so accurate) retelling of Jane Eyre. I read "My Lady Jane" last year and absolutely fell in love with the humorous retelling of Lady Jane Greys story which was basically a very wild (and not to be taken seriously) ride through a lesser well known part of the British history.
I'm expecting a funny, quirky and heart-warming read with "My Plain Jane" and I'm eager to get my hands on a copy!

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Zen and Gone by Emily France (July 3)
When Essa meets Oliver, the new boy in town, she is not exactly at a high point in her life: with her mother working in a pot shop, it's up to her to take care of her younger sister, but she finds peace in exploring Buddhism at the local zendo. Oliver and Essa go on a survival trip in the Rocky Mountains but Essas new-found inner peace gets put to the test as she finds out that her sister hasn't only followed them, but also disappeared after a mountain storm...

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I've never read a book centered around Buddhism but since I've been very interested in zen and that kind of stuff lately, "Zen and Gone" seems like the perfect book to be reading for me!

Notes from My Captivity by Kathy Parks (July 10)
When Adrienne, who's dream it is to become a journalist, finds out about a alleged hermit family living in the Siberian wilderness, there's no question she's going to try to find and write about them. What she didn't expect though, is being held hostage by them - and ending up flirting with their youngest son...

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This book sounds unlike everything I ever read before. I mean, a girl flying to Siberia and being held hostage by a hermit family? I'm in!

Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson (August 7)
Set in the same universe as the Remnant Chronicles, "Dance of Thieves" follows Jase, who finds himself being the new leader of the Ballenger empire after his father's death. His mighty empire is now being threatened by a new era set by a young queen rising up on the horizon, but that is not his only problem. Kazi, a former street thief, was sent to investigate his trespassings towards the young queen's empire and Kazi and Jase get tangled up in an enthralling cat and mouse game...

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I only just recently read Mary E. Pearsons "The Kiss of Deception" and once I finished that series, I'm exited to dive into Dance of Thieves. I always had a weakness for stories about street thieves so I'm keen to see how this one's going to play out.

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry (August 7)
Following Michael, an atheist at a strictly Catholic school, and Lucy, who is the embodiment of contrasts with speaking up against a teacher in class and at the same time wanting to be a priest, "Heretics Anonymous" is about outcasts finding their way together and fighting for their rights and freedom.

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I'm very interested to see in how this will play out and how the author will portray religion and young people's struggles with finding their way. I have read very few books set in Catholic schools but this one sounds like an engrossing read!

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab (August 28)
Cass's parents have a rather unsual job - they're ghost hunters. Cass herself is even more unusual - she can actually see ghosts.
When she and her family - including her dead best friend Jacob - move to Edinburgh, she finds herself in a city full of ghosts and with a new friend, Lara, who has the same ability as herself. The two of them go on a mission to send ghosts to behind the veil and soon, Cass is about to have an epic fight that might or might not save herself...

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I love, love, love V.E. Schwabs books, hence I'm beyond exited for her newest release! This is one I've had my eye on for a long time and I can't wait to finally have my hands on it!

The Towering Sky by Katherine McGee (August 28)
"The Towering Sky" is the third book in a series set in New York City of the year 2118, surrounding a group of people living in a skyscraper which is a thousand floors high. I've only read the first book, "The Thousandth Floor", but I really loved it - it's kind of like a dystopian/ futuristic Gossip Girl and I definitely have to catch up with the series so I can read "The Towering Sky"!

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REVIEW | "The Kiss of Deception" by Mary E. Pearson

Title: The Kiss of Deception
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Publisher: Square Fish (8/1/2015)
Genre: fantasy
ISBN: 978-1250063151
Page Number: 512 pages






Blurb
She flees on her wedding day. She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection. She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father. She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.
The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance.
Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia escapes to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive - and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself in the brink of unlocking perilous secrets - secrets that may unravel her world - even as she feels herself falling in love.

Execution
The book picked up very slowly for me. Throughout the first half I was constantly debating whether I should dnf it and quite honestly, the only thing that kept me from doing this was that I had done it to so many other books recently and I simply didn't want to dnf another one.
And I'm so glad I didn't.
While almost nothing happened in the first ~250 pages, the second half of the book was filled with action, adventure and I finally began to establish an emotional connection to the characters.
I was told the book ended in a mind-blowing cliffhanger which I don't quite agree on but I still really want to know how the story is going to continue in the next books.

Characters
The story is told from the perspective of three people: Lia, the assassin sent to kill her and the prince she was supposed to marry. In the beginning, you don't know which one of the two mysterious, handsome men is the assassin and which one is the prince. Though I do agree it adds a kind of mysterious note to the story, I think it could have been done way better.
The biggest problem I had with the first half of the book was that the two men seemed characterless to me. They kind of blurred together to this one person which I know the author wanted you to keep guessing who was who so she didn't really give them outstanding character traits but that also made it incredibly hard to root for one of them.
In the second half though, as I knew who I was dealing with, I grew quite close to them and well, what can I say... I'm Team Rafe.
Lia on the other hand was a very interesting character. She was very strong-minded from the beginning on but throughout the book, she grew so much as a character and I'm really keen on seeing her further character development in the next books.

Emotions
Like I said, it was hard for me to find an emotional connection to the characters in the beginning, but now I'm all in. Both the characters and the story itself are well crafted so it isn't hard to be emotional involved (at least not in the second half).

Overall
Altogether, I can absolutely recommend the book to any fantasy lovers who don't mind the focus of the story being heavily on the romance (though I feel like that will change in the next books... maybe?). In the end, I gave the book a 3/5 stars and I can't wait for the next one!

what i read recently | 5/23/2018

Hello everyone!
I thought it was time for another "what I read recently" so here are some mini-reviews of the books I read lately.

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
I had to order the second book in this series immediately after having finished the first one and I had to pick this one up the day that it came in the mail. Yep, this series is THAT good.
And The Son of Neptune did not disappoint. We got introduced to a bunch of new characters that I instantly fell in love with and it was so much fun following their and Percy's story.
So I guess this series is a must-read for every Rick Riordan fan out there!
5/5 stars.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

What's funny about this book is that in the beginning, I thought I might dnf it because it was really dense and slow paced. Then I read something else inbetween and after I picked it up for the second time, the story really started to get enthralling. And then I completely fell down the rabbit hole. I still can't quite grasp everything yet and I certainly can't explain my feelings but this book was a masterpiece and absolutely mind-blowing. I can't wait to read Book 3! 

5/5 stars. 

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

I don't have to repeat how much I love Rick Riordan, but THIS BOOK, OMG! I loved to see how all the characters got together and how they all went on their quest and THAT ENDING, holy crap! I'm literally biting my nails waiting for the next book and I will devour it the minute it arrives in the mail. How did people do this when they had to wait a year for The House of Hades? Like, how did they survive? I'm barely making it through those few days...

(needless to say: 5/5 stars)

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Initially, I didn't even intend to pick this up. I had tried to read it a year ago and I hadn't finished it then so it had sat unread for the most parts on my shelf for quite some time. Then I saw a video by Ashley from a dash of ash on YouTube of her fancasting the Illuminae files and for some reason, that really made me want to read the book. So I picked it up.

I have got so say, it's not the best book I've ever read - some scenes did feel a bit slow-paced and I had some problems understanding the technological stuff sometimes (I know, stupid me) but overall, I really liked it this time around. 

4/5 stars

Fünf (=Five) by Ursula Poznanski

(since German is my mother tongue and its a German book, I read it in German)

This was the first thriller I read in a while and while I did need some time to get into the story, when I was finally intrigued, I couldn't get away from it anymore.

I read this within a day and it was really good. It was one of those book that, when you put them aside for a while to do something else, you just can't stop thinking about them and then you have to pick them up again.

Fast-paced, enthralling and a good read!

4/5 stars

REVIEW | "1Q84 - Books One and Two" by Haruki Murakami

Title: 1Q84 - Books One and Two
Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Vintage (8/2/2012)
Genre: adult fiction
ISBN: 978-0099549062
Page Number: 816 pages






Blurb
The year is 1Q84.
This is the real world, there is no doubt about that.
But in this world, there are two moons in the sky.
In this world, the fates of two people, Tengo and Aomame, are closely intertwined. They are each, in their own way, doing something very dangerous. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both.
Something extraordinary is starting.

Execution
When I first started this book, it was incredibly hard for me to get invested in the story. I could only read one chapter at a time and even that was quite hard to get through. So I put the book down and started it again later and this time, it just clicked with me. I don't know what had happened, but all of a sudden I was very much invested in the story and read it relatively quickly. There is just something about Murakamis writing that makes you fall down the rabbit hole and get you enthralled by the story in a way that you can't really describe. I still don't know what it is that makes me love this book so much because no doubt, this is one of the weirdest books I've ever read, but it just drew me in and hasn't let me go ever since.
Murakami must be a genius for how perfectly everything fits together in this book. It is very detailed but nothing is there by chance and although on first sight it all seems like one big mess, it all falls into place at some point and makes perfectly sense.
This is one of those books you could describe as much as you want and yet never do justice to it. It is a book you have to read yourself in order to understand what it is about.

Characters
Though there are many more characters in the story, I want to concentrate on the two protagonists, Tengo and Aomame. Taking turns, they narrate the story and both contribute to crucial events happening in the book.
Both of them are very well crafted and complex, you can imagine them as real people living a real life just perfectly.
Aomame is a very accounting and accurate, she is a person you imagine never makes any mistakes in her life and she is also very distant from the life around herself. She has problems bonding herself to other people and seems very cold at first sight.
Tengo, on the other hand, seems rather warm and emotional; he is a talented writer and I imagined him as a dreamy and yet somehow thoughtful person (see what I mean when I say this book is very hard to describe?).
In the end, their characters are very different from one another and yet they are connected on a very profound level.

Emotions
I felt a lot reading this book. I can't even pinpoint exactly what it was that I felt (again, hard to describe) but essentially, this book made me feel something, and this something was a lot.
I was (I still am) very invested in the story and more so, the characters, and I desperately want to read the last book to find out what will happen to them.

Overall
Altogether, I think Haruki Murakami has created a masterpiece. This review does not do it justice but I still hope you could kind of grasp how I felt about the book. "1Q84" is definitely one of my favorites now and I can't wait to read more books by Murakami.

favorite books of all time #1

Hi everyone!

I thought it'd be a good idea to introduce you all to my favorite books of all time. Since I have a whole bunch of them and the number is continuously increasing, I'm gonna do several blog posts about it (like little series) and this is the very first one!
I hope you'll enjoy reading it and maybe get some inspiration for what to read next yourself!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I feel like The Book Thief is quite a classic amongst book lovers and I fully understand the hype. Narrated by Death, the perspective of the story is very unique and it's set in a very crucial time in history, in Second World War Germany, where everything is under Hitlers control.
I loved the role books played in this book and how Liesel, the main character, fought her own, tiny war against the Nazi regime. It's gripping, touching and timeless. Must-read for everyone!

Inkheart, Inkspell & Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Similar to Harry Potter, those are the books I grew up with. They don't only get me out of reading slumps still today, they also introduced a whole new world to me and even increased my love for books. I've read them several times and each time, I'm falling in love a bit more with the world and the characters. Beside the whole concept of the book, one of the main reasons I love them so much is Cornelia Funkes writing style which draws you in and makes you fall down the rabbit hole till your woven into the story like a spider's victim in its net.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Set in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan, The Kite Runner is a very important novel that doesn't only discuss the matter of war, violence and hate between certain peoples, it also talks about the importance of friendship and the impact it has on people. This is very touching, very intricate and very beautifully written. I have never come across anyone who didn't love this book.

The Millenium Series by Stieg Larsson
(The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)
Those, in my opinion, are what perfect thrillers look like. They are all huge but I couldn't put any of them down for just a second. I loved the characters, I loved the story and I selfishly want to bring Stieg Larsson back to life so he can go on writing this series.
Everyone who likes thrillers will love these books since (like I said), they are perfection.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
As a huge Harry Potter fan, I welcome everything that is (even just distantly) related to HP so there was no way I wasn't going to read this Harry Potter satire.
I didn't only love how it played with the trope of the Chosen One, I was also very surprised by the romantic aspect of the story and I have to say, this is one my absolute favorite romances of all time. I'm planning a reread soon in order to be able to write a proper review of this book but I absolutely loved every word of it and again, I could not put this book down.

That was the first part of many to come - I hope you enjoyed it and if you like, you can leave me some of your favorite books in the comments.

xxx

what i read recently | 5/14/18

Hi!
As you may have noticed: I was gone for a while. I needed some time to figure out some stuff in my life but now I can dedicate time to blogging again which I am beyond exited for!
Also, I have decided to chance some things about my blog. As for now, I have just uploaded reviews on here but I plan to chance that.
As much as I enjoy writing reviews, I want to write so much other stuff as well! I don't know if I've ever mentioned it on my Instagram, but I'm also a writer of fiction (unfortunately unpublished though) and I plan on sharing some writing tips in the future. Also, I want to try out some other formats regarding to books (because after all, this is still supposed to be a book blog), one of which I am introducing in this post: recent reads!
Maybe those will come monthly, but more likely I will upload one post every other few weeks or even more frequently because currently, I'm reading a lot. Like, a lot a lot.
As for my reviews, I don't want to write one for every book I'm reading because for some books, I just don't have that much to say about them so writing a review is really hard and not so much fun for me.
But that's enough with the rambling, let's get on to what I read recently!

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

I loved this one so, so much. I also recently reread Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (and I'm beyond exited to see the movie, I can't wait till it's out in Germany!) and it felt like a warm, fuzzy embrace returning to the Simon universe and getting to follow all of my favourite characters and seeing them as they were trying to follow their paths.
I absolutely adored Leah as the protagonist, she was so honest and relatable and her relationship with... well, I'm not going to spoil the love interest, so let's say: *insert name* was so freaking cute! Gave this book a full 5/5 stars because it deserved no less! 

Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

I think it took me about two sittings to finish this so obviously, I liked it. At the time when I was reading it, I needed a cute, mindless contemporary romance and that is exactly what I got with this book. It’s not the most profound and epic love story but it was just what I needed and I recommend it to anyone looking for a quick and enjoyable romance. 4/5 stars.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

I rather picked this up on a whim without any expectations and without even knowing too much about the plot. It had been in a while since I had last read a Rick Riordan book but when I started this I remembered how much I used to love the Percy Jackson series. I loved how the world was expanded in this one with the Romans and everything, the story was fast-paced, enthralling and wanted to make me pick up the next book immediately after finishing this one. Highly recommend it for all Rick Riordan fans! 4.75/5 stars.

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

I don’t read much poetry because I find it really hard to get engaged in it but Rupi Kaurs poetry is an exception for me. I also loved her ‚Milk and Honey‘ but The Sun anf Her Flowers was even better. I just connect with her poems on a very profound, personal level and besides, her writing is just beautiful. 5/5 stars

So I really hope you like this new format of mine, I hope I'll do it more often from now on!

Have a nice day (or night, wherever you are) and keep reading!

xxx