August 2017 Wrap Up

Hey there internet! Another month has gone by, and I actually read this month! (Not that much, but I felt better this month) So without further ado, here's what I read this month.

The Wrath and The Dawn 

via Goodreads

By Renée Ahdieh

5/5 Stars!!!

Guys I love this book so much! It's saucy and romantic and beautiful and full of magic! I'm usually not a huge fan of fantasy but I adore this book. It's also a retelling of 1000 Arabian Nights which is really cool as well.

Burn for Burn.

via Amazon.

By Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.

4/5 Stars.

So I listened to this book on Audible, and honestly guys I've never tried audio books before but I really enjoyed this! I can listen to a story while I'm cleaning, driving, or getting ready for school which is really convienent. As for the book itself, I really liked it. it had a lot of cliff hangers and the characters themselves are really in depth. I do feel like some of the plots are kind of forced but other than that I really enjoyed listening to this book. 

What I'm Reading Now: 

via Goodreads.

via Goodreads.

And that's all folks! Thanks for reading another one of my blog posts, and I'll see you back here on friday with my Top Five September Releases! 

The Shack.

via Goodreads. 

The Shack

By WM. Paul Young

4 out of 5 stars.

What happens when tragedy strikes us? Where is God then? After the tragic loss of his daughter, Mac is lost in grief and finds it hard to move on, as well as finds himself drifting away from his previous relationship with God. The Shack is Mac's journey of a lifetime and delves into where God is when things go wrong. 

I've had a rocky road with religion. As a bisexual woman its been hard to keep my faith when the church tells me that I'm fundamentally wrong, but I also was never able to fully give up my faith that I had held so fast to since I was young. This book is probably one of the only times I've read something that makes me feel like I am enough for God and that the way I am is not wrong. I found myself hearing exactly what I needed to hear as I read this book. This book is so insightful and really focuses on gods true message, which is unending love. When you peel away all the doctrine and rules and traditions, all there is and ever was is just love. The characters are also fantastically written. God appears to the main character in the form of a big and extroverted African American woman, which is so heartwarming to read. That being said, the pace of the book could be better, but overall, I really enjoyed this book and I gave it four stars.  

I recommend this to everyone who identifies as a Christian or anyone who feels that they aren't enough to be a Christian or to be loved by God. 

Thanks for reading another one of my reviews! I'm posting bi-weekly now! Be on the lookout for new posts coming Mondays AND Fridays. I'll see you all on Monday with my review of  The Summer I Learned to Dive by Shannon McCrimmon. 

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the People's Temple.

via Simon and Schuster

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

Jeff Guinn

3/5 Stars.

DISCLAIMER: I was sent a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuester. All opinions in this review are my own. 

You may not have heard of Jim Jones, but you've probably heard the phrase "don't drink the kool-aid" The Road to Jonestown is a true, detailed account of the people's temple, everything from Jim Jones killing animals as a young child to his final sermon as 918 people were poisoned. There are so many questions around the entire case, from how this cult came about to why everyone committed mass suicide; and those questions are all answered in this book.

This book is so detailed and interesting if you're a fan of True Crime. It talks about Jones's childhood, his early days as a Methodist pastor, his compound in California, and his fateful trip to Guyana where the deaths occurred. This book opened my eyes so much. I thought this was a cult of crazed people, but the book shows how Jim Jones was a monster. He drugged and raped young women in his church, took parents away from their children, and forced parents to poison their children and watch them die. The entire situation is unbelievable; I had to stop while I was reading often to remind myself this actually happened. That being said, because the book is so detailed, it is very slow to read, and some of the middle parts are hard to get through. 

I highly recommend this book to true crime fans and everyone who is interested in this type of history.

The Road to Jonestown is available now everywhere books are sold. Thanks for reading another one of my reviews, and I'll see you all on Friday with my review of The Shack by W.M Paul Young.

Top Five August 2017 Releases.

Wow! Another month has gone by and I have done nothing productive with my life. I guess that's summer for ya! If you're going back to school this year, best of luck to you! Personally, I'm excited to have more books to read for school. Anyways, here are five books coming out this month that will make the impending doom of school a little less hard.

1.  The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne.

via Goodreads.

Cyril Avery is not a real Avery: or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do, if eccentric, Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redomptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, achored only by his heartfelt friendship with the more glamorous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. He will spend his lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from. 

Why this book is on my radar: 

• written by John Boyne, the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. (super tearjerking read. Kind of tears you apart inside)
• The Heart's Invisible Furies comes out August 22nd.

• Set in Post WWI Ireland.

2.  Depression and Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim.

via Amazon.

Sabrina Benaim is one of the most-viewed performance poets of all time, whose poem "Explaining My Depression to My Mother" has over 5 million views. This book explores themes of mental health, love, and family and is a documentation of struggle and triumph, and a celebration of daily life and living.

Why it's on my radar: 

• I suffer with depression, so seeing it represented in books by other mentally ill people is really exciting.
• The cover is goregous??? Like seriously look how pretty this book  is. 
• Depression and Other Magic Tricks comes out tommorow! August 8th.

3.  Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo.

via Goodreads.

She will become one of the world's greatest heroes, but first, she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law- risking exile- to save a mere mortal. Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world. 

Why its on my radar: 

• Wonder woman is freaking awesome.
• Strong female characters. 
• Wonder Woman: War Bringer, will be out August 29th. 

4. Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney C. Stevens.

via Goodreads.

Self discovery dosen't always need to have a "coming out" Billie McCaffrey is the tomboy daughter of the town's preacher, but when she starts to question her sexuality, she dosen't want anyone slapping a label on it before she herself can understand it. 

Why it's on my radar:

• LGBT teen fiction is literally my favorite thing ever.
• I can identify with the character as a queer woman who grew up in a very religious household.
• Dress Codes for Small Towns comes out August 22nd.

5.  A Torch Against the Night by Sabbah Tahir.

via Amazon.

I won't give you guys a synopsis since not everyone has read the first book, but A Torch Against the Night is the well awaited sequel to An Ember in the Ashes, which captivated everyone when it was released about a year ago.  This book will be out August 30th. 

And there you have it friends! I hope you enjoy these books this August, and come back next week for my review of The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the People's Temple by Jeff Guinn.