Sunday, April 3, 2016

April TBR




I can't believe it's already April, where did March go, I'm starting to freak out.  My wedding is in June and the months are flying by.  Anyway, it's time to showcase what I plan to read this month. 





ARC's For Review



Part love letter to New York, part portrait of a girl and a city in crisis as Hurricane Sandy hits New York City.

When Emilia de Wit ran away to New York City, she planned everything to a T. Plane ticket, purchased. Cute apartment, rented online. Subway map, printed and highlighted. This was no ordinary trip -- this was Emilia's declaration of independence. Her chance to escape the life her parents were ruining. To get away from the horrible scandal that had rocked Amsterdam, the scandal that was all her dad's fault. To see if her mom, the glamorous, world-famous artist, would even notice.

New York steals Emilia's heart at first sight -- even though absolutely nothing goes to plan. She didn't plan to end up homeless on a stranger's doorstep. She didn't plan to make friends with Seth, Abby, and Jim. And she could never have known that Hurricane Sandy would be barreling up the coast, straight for the city.

All she wanted was to get away from her parents, her
her problems, her life . . . and when the storm hits and the power goes out, Emilia feels farther from home than she could have imagined.







 Combining the emotional depth of The Art of Racing in the Rain with the magical spirit of The Life of Pi, Lily and the Octopus is an epic adventure of the heart.

When you sit down with Lily and the Octopus, you will be taken on an unforgettable ride.

The magic of this novel is in the read, and we don’t want to spoil it by giving away too many details.

We can tell you that this is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can’t live without.

For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion Lily, who happens to be a dog.

Lily and the Octopus reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all.

Remember the last book you told someone they had to read?

Lily and the Octopus is the next one.








Collecting books can be a dangerous prospect in this fun, time-traveling, fantasy adventure from a spectacular debut author.
 
One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.

London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.

Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself...



Other Review Books



 Katie is seventeen and in love with someone whose identity she’s afraid to reveal.

Caroline, Katie’s mother, is uptight, worn out, and about to find the past catching up with her.

Mary, Katie’s grandmother, suffers from Alzheimer’s and suddenly appears after years of mysterious absence.

As Katie cares for an elderly woman who brings daily chaos to her life, she finds herself drawn to the grandmother she never knew she had. Rules get broken as allegiances shift. Is Mary contagious? Is “badness” genetic?

In confronting the past, Katie is forced to seize the present. As Mary slowly unravels and family secrets are revealed, Katie learns to live and finally dares to love.

Unbecoming is a vivid and exhilarating celebration of life and learning to honor your own story, infused with jenny Downham’s signature warmth, humor, and wisdom.



Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.




Audio Books


 When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.





 Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died... and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.







If I get through all of these, I'm not sure what I'll read, but if I do I'll post a update to this post. I hope you all have a great month full of fantastic books!!! Make sure you come back to see my thoughts of each of these books.   



Saturday, April 2, 2016

Right Up My Alley #2:





Alright, Right up my Alley is a post that I used to do here on the blog, it was mainly a discussion post and I created it, sort of titling it as a play off my name.  Anyway, I'm thinking of bringing this back, but going to change it up a bit.  

Right up my Alley is going to be a post where I highlight something I saw during the week that peaked my interest.  It could be a blog, piece of jewelry, something in the letter writing community, or even a book.  Mainly I'm going to start showcasing other things in my life that I enjoy.  Right Up My Alley will be a regular post here on Ali's Bookshelf and will be posted on Saturdays. 





So this week has been a weird week, I've found some great things on Facebook and of course April Fools was this past week.  I of course, didn't get fooled by anything, but there were some great posts out there. 

Most of the week I've been going crazy wondering who is going to die on the season finale of The Walking Dead.  I do know one thing, if Daryl dies they might have more than a riot on their hands.  I'm super excited to watch the show on Sunday though, my mom and I have made a plan to watch it together and I'm so glad my kids will be in bed.  I just hope we don't wake them up by screaming and us freaking out. 


Other things that have caught my attention this week, was two shirts that I really want to get my hands on.

I saw both of these on Facebook this week and had to share them here as well.  The one on the left is from tee chip and you can buy it here. The other one is from viral style and you can buy it here.  Before anyone starts saying something, no I'm not affiliated with either of these companies at all.  I just thought you all would like these shirts as much as me.



The Video of the Week is one that made me smile all day.  It is book related and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did when I first saw it.


Our first look at the new illustrated Harry Potter book is bea...
Our first look at the new illustrated Harry Potter book is beautiful.
Posted by Vulture on Wednesday, March 30, 2016



Are you all as excited about this book as me?



With Right Up My Alley, I want to start showcasing some of the bloggers that catch my attention throughout the week as well.  Below is one that I have been following for awhile now, but she is such a huge inspiration to me.


If you like Bullet Journaling and self help type books, you will fall in love with this bloggers blog.  Her name is Kara and she's fantastic, her blog is BohoBerry.  I know most in the #bujo community knows who Kara is.   

CLICK HERE 

She also has a Youtube channel that I'm obsessed with.



Alright, so that's all I have this week, I hope you all have a great weekend!



Review: Independently Wealthy by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal


Title: Independently Wealthy
Author: Lorraine Zago Rosenthal
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Format: Hardcover
Date Published: December 2nd 2014
Pages: 336 pages
ISBN #: 1250040353

Authors WebsiteGoodreadsBuy This
In New Money, Savannah Morgan was thrust into high-society New York when she learned she was the sole heir to her father’s billion-dollar fortune. In Independently Wealthy, she is living her dream life on the Upper West Side, excelling at her job as an editorial assistant, and enjoying her handsome new boyfriend, Alex. Everything in Savannah’s life should be perfect—but she can’t ignore the questions and scandal surrounding her father’s fatal accident. Her hopes of solving this mystery are shared by Caroline Stone—her newfound sister who is slowly becoming a friend. Savannah decides to investigate, although not everyone wants her to discover the truth. Her domineering older brother, Ned, has his own problems, including a lingering regret over his recent divorce, the constant pressure of running the Stone media empire, and managing a playboy bachelorhood. As Savannah's quest for justice becomes complicated and dangerous, she is led to Washington, D.C., an alluring stranger, and more surprises, trouble, and changes than she ever could have imagined.




Independently Wealthy is the sequel to New Money and I really loved reading it just as much as New Money.  Again we are thrust into Savannah's story and right into her life.  I'm really glad I got the chance to read this one, thanks to the publisher.  With all the fantastic twists and turns in the plot, I couldn't stop reading this one.  I finished it in one sitting and can't wait to read both of these books again.  

The character development and growth throughout this whole book is fantastic! Savannah isn't the only one that grows either and it's one of the best things about this authors writing and stories.  She doesn't only let the main character growth show, she showcases all of her characters. If you love the dialogue between characters as well as growth, then Lorraine Zago Rosenthal is the author for you to read.  Her dialogue is WOW! One of the best in my opinion.  

There were a few things that weren't fantastic in this one though, one being the time between reading the two books for myself.  In this book it references a lot of the things that happened in the first.  It would have been fine if I had just read New Money, but I hadn't and I really didn't want to re-read either, so at times I was a bit lost not remember what had actually happened.  

I will say I would love to read more of Savannah's story or any of the other characters as well.  Lorraine Zago Rosenthal is a fantastic author and I would read and recommend any of her books.  Oh and I must say the ending of this book is just pure love for me and the cover took my breath away. 




I really wanted to give this book a 5 Puppy rating, but I really can't.  So I'm going to give Independently Wealthy an Ali's Bookshelf...


 Here at Ali's Bookshelf we accept books in exchange for a honest review. The book above came from the publisher. We also use Amazon Affiliate links at times

Friday, April 1, 2016

Fit Readers Small Update





Just wanted to give a small update as to how my week has gone for walking.  This has been a pretty bad week for me, for one thing I messed up my back and haven't been able to walk.  If it isn't one thing I swear it's another, but I'm hoping by the end of this weekend, I'll be back to normal and walking.   Going to try to go easy on it tomorrow and Sunday. 

The most steps I did this week was on Tuesday and that was a total of 4292 steps.  The rest of the week totals were maybe 2000 steps a day.  I guess at least I was able to do that, right? 






So how did everyone else do? I hope you all had a better week then me and I hope you all have a great weekend! 




Book Blogger Hop #16







Book Blogger Hop is another post I'm going to be trying out and this one has a topic each week, which is something I've been trying to bring to the blog.  I'm really excited about this one because I have a hard time coming up with something fresh to talk about and I'm hoping this helps.   
If you would be interested in doing your own post, please CLICK HERE to learn more about this great hop!







Have you ever ventured out of your comfort zone in terms of reading a genre you have never read? If so, did you get hooked on that new genre?


I don't do this very often, mainly because I do tend to read several genres, but the last time I did go out of my comfort zone it wasn't a good experience. I don't tend to read thrillers or anything creepy.  That's just not my type of book, but everyone was raving about this book, so I got it and thought you know what let's try this.  So I took said book home and started to read it.  Let's just say I got really freaked out by the book and it now just has a permanent place on my bookshelf.  

The funny thing is, this book is now turning into a movie and it looks amazing.  I now want to go see this movie and probably will.  Not sure if that will lead to me trying to read the book again or not, but we shall see. 

So what about you, have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone when it comes to reading a different genre?  

 

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