Miss Phi's Bookshelf: 2015

T5W: Top 5 Books of the Year

12/31/2015

This year I managed to read 50 books, I know it is not a large number in comparison to some other bloggers, however, I am really proud of myself. Out of those 50 books, only a few got 5 stars from me, but I gotta tell you, I am pretty stingy with my stars, since I do not round up decimals -To me a 4.5 is a 4 not a 5, and nobody can convince me otherwise- so, many of the books listed below do not have a 5 star rating but I still enjoyed them thoroughly and consider them my top 5 books of the year. So let's begin!

5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This book reminded me of my SecondLife days, if they had gone "wild". Every single part of it was full of a mix of nostalgia and awesomeness, it made me think how much we depend on technology and made me wonder how the future generations are gonna be like.

Full review.

4. The Martian by Andy Weir
This book managed to make me laugh -almost hysterically- I remember being on a bus with earphones on and just laughing so hard even the person who was sitting behind me asked me what I was reading since I looked to be really enjoying it, I was. I recommended this book to so many people and I am happy to know some of them are actually reading and enjoying this as much as I did.

Full review.

3. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle No. 3) by Maggie Stiefvater
I wasn't a big fan of the Raven Cycle and then this book happened; it hooked me up and suddenly I realized I was converted, it was just so good. I cannot wait for The Raven King, I am seriously counting the days for it. Gansey is going down!
Full review.

2. Air Awakens series by Elise Kova

I cheated, I added two books of the same series here. Air Awakens and Fire Falling are the first two installments on the Air Awakens series, I had a hard time picking just one of the two books since I read one after the other and still need to make up my mind about which one I liked better. By the way, the ending on the 2nd book: What. Just. Happened?
Reviews coming up.

1. Vision in Silver (The Others No. 3) by Anne Bishop

Oh my, I just love this series so much, and this book... I love this book! It was all I wanted and more. All those political movements and plots against the Others, it is as if humans are begging for extinction. I highly recommend this series.
Full review.

Have you read any of the books listed above? Which one was your favorite book of the year? Did you like the quotes added to this post? I cannot wait for all the amazing books we will get to read on 2016, happy reading and happy new year!

*T5W was created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey.

book review

Review: WondLa Series

12/25/2015

top 5 wednesdays

T5W: Series I want to start next year

12/23/2015

Wow, it was really hard for me to make a list for this T5W*, mainly because this was the year I actually committed to my reading, so there are many series -completed, uncompleted, popular, non-so-popular, etc.- that I haven't had the chance to read. That said, let's begin!

5. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

When The Darkest Minds was released I remember saying to myself: "I am gonna like this one". But back then it was really hard to find a place to buy books that also delivered to my country, and that the shipping rates weren't so high. It wasn't until I switched to digital format that I was able to get all the books in the series at a reasonable price.

4. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

I have not read any book by Cassandra Clare, I know she is a very popular best-selling author but, to be honest, I am dreading it is all hype. This is the first series of her I am giving a chance and if I like it, I will continue onto reading the Mortal Instruments. Since I know the share the same universe but different timelines, I am not too worried I will start this one first.

3. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

With both, the last book and the movie coming out soon, I feel like I have to hurry up and read this one as soon as possible; I read the first chapter a couple of months ago but after reading so many bad reviews I got a little bit discouraged, but I think I got over it now.

2. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

This highly popular series has been tempting me for a few months, but I haven't had the courage to commit to it, mainly because it gives me the vibe of it being one of those high maintenance series (does that make any sense?).

1. Fever by Karen Marie Moning

Two of my favorite booktubers have recommended this series several times, claiming it is highly entertaining and addictive. It wasn't until last month that I was able to get all the books in this series, I can't wait to start it!

Which series on this list have you read? Are you starting any new series next year?

*T5W was created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey.

book vs movie

Book vs. Movie: Mockingjay Pt. 2

12/16/2015

For the past few weeks, I've been complaining to my family and friends about not having time for myself, I have been busy with work and running my society6 store, but it wasn't until last week that I realized Episode VII is almost here and I had yet to watch Mockingjay. So I decided to marathon the movies at the beginning of the week (I know, I should have marathoned the books instead) and finally went today.

About the book: I must admit I didn't read the books until after the first movie was released, I highly enjoyed it and decided I would give the books a chance, I am so glad I did. I absolutely love this series, it is one of my favorites and even though I already had a preformed image of Katniss, she had her own voice in my head.

To me, Mockingjay is the best book of the series, I know that many people hate it with passion, and I seriously don't know why, I cannot comprehend why would someone dislike this book, but if you want to know my reasons for loving it then let me explain them to you: Mockingjay is a complex book where we get to see how psychologically damaged the tributes are, kids that had to grow up too fast and too painfully, our main character, Katniss, is an example of that; she has to live with the consequences of killing others, has to face the fact she is the face of the revolution, a role she doesn't want to play and having lost the one person who completely understands her takes its toll on her. The Hunger Games was never really a love story, it was a story about oppression, the social and political conflicts are far more important and that in my opinion, made the story grow. In other words, this is not a happy book, this is a book about war.

About the movie: I really enjoyed hat Mockingjay Part 2, it was the perfect representation of the book, and even though at some point I felt it was a little slow and thought maybe having just one movie would have been better, I don't think I would have liked it as much as I did since I felt it didn't really miss anything. The visual effects were amazing and also was the cast.

I still liked the book better and think that I wouldn't have had a deep understanding of the main character if I hadn't read the book first, thing that happened to me when I watched the Hunger Games: I had a hard time getting to like Katniss until I knew exactly what she was thinking, such a smart girl. So, if you haven't read the books yet I recommend you do, it doesn't matter if you watched the movies already, I can assure you are gonna like them better, you have my word.

fantasy

Siege And Storm

12/08/2015

Title:
Siege And Storm
(The Grisha #2)

Author:
Leigh Bardugo

★★★☆☆

3.5 out of 5 stars

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

As I was staring blankly at my screen I started wondering why was it taking me so long to write a proper review of Siege and Storm, I have tried three different times already and keep postponing it over and over again since I finished reading this book 8 weeks ago. I honestly don’t have anything to say about it, this book made zero impact on my life, nor for better nor for worse.

So we have Alina and Mal escaped from the Darkling and now are working hard to make money in order to be able to move to another town, they live on a small (almost in ruins) bed and breakfast and live in fear of being discovered, soon enough they are held captive by the Darkling and take to sea, new characters are introduced, yet everything moves slowly.

My main problem with this series is the fact that don’t really like Alina, she grows in this book, becomes darker as her connection with the Darkling becomes stronger, she craves for power now and is also more active when it comes to politics. But she is still an indecisive insecure girl with no charisma. Mal isn’t any close to being my favorite either; he is constantly questioning their relationship: is it strong enough for it to last? Is it a one-sided love?

The secondary characters are better; we get introduced to Nikolai, whom in my opinion was a way to compensate for the Darkling’s absence, he is charming and way more charismatic than Alina will ever be. Not to mention he is ridiculously good looking and persuasive. As I mentioned before, we don’t get much Darkling on this installment and yet when he is present his actions make me question if he really is as intelligent as they claim he is.

top 5 wednesdays

T5W: Books I didn't finish

11/18/2015

book review

Why We Broke Up

11/16/2015

Title:

Why We Broke Up

Author:
Daniel Handler

Illustrator:

Maira Kalman

★★★★☆

4 out of 5 stars

I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

Min, according to Ed, is an artsy girl she is quite different from the other girls he has dated, she likes old movies and lattes. Ed is a basketball player whom likes to say “no offense” after actually offending someone, and he does it quite a lot, he is absolutely sexy and a player. They come from different worlds and their relationship is destined to fail.

The story of their break up is told from Min’s perspective; the book itself is a really long letter to Ed, where Min exposes all the reasons why they didn’t work out as a couple and gives back all the items that remind her of him. I liked how the main character acknowledges there’s more than one reason behind it all, that things were more complex than just one thing gone wrong; I thought that was very realistic.

As much as I liked this book, it has many flaws, so I am divided about how I feel about it, part of me thinks it was predictable and obvious, the side characters were non important, not to say the main character (Min) was exhausting and her constant old-movie-references felt a little bit forced. But then, the other part of me was flooded with nostalgia, and that part overpowered the former.

Maybe I was too influenced by my own history that I couldn’t see past it, but I just couldn’t shut off my own emotions, and to be honest I think that if I ever re read this book my rating might go down.

Pages

T5W: Top 5 Books of the Year

Review: WondLa Series

T5W: Series I want to start next year

Book vs. Movie: Mockingjay Pt. 2

Siege And Storm

T5W: Books I didn't finish

Why We Broke Up

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