[Top Ten Tuesday] Books Recently Added To My TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. 

Top Ten YA Books Recently Added To My TBR

Oh TBR... okay, so I don't add books to my TBR unless I have them "in-hand". Books I'm interested in but do not have access to are grouped separately. So I decided to split the list... five from my actual TBR and 5 from my Interested list. :p

Click the covers for Goodreads

Interested In:

Soundless by Richelle Mead

YA Fantasy – November 17, 2015
For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass #4, YA Fantasy – September 1, 2015
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .
She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty

YA Mystery, Retellings – September 15, 2015
In modern-day London, two brilliant high school students; one Sherlock Holmes and a Miss James & Mori & Moriarty meet. A murder will bring them together. The truth very well might drive them apart.

The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

YA Fantasy, Retelling – 2016
A retelling of the story of Aladdin told from the perspective of the genie--a girl named Zahra--who falls in love with Aladdin even as she is bound to grant his wishes to win the heart of a warrior princess.

Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young

YA Contemporary – November 3, 2015
When Audrey Casella arrives for an unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she’s grateful for the detour. Just months after their mother’s death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief.
On The TBR/Waiting To Be Read:

An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

YA Fantasy – April 28, 2015

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

YA Contemporary – June 16, 2015

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off.

How To Say I Love You Out Loud by Karole Cozzo

YA Contemporary, Romance – August 4, 2015

When Jordyn Michaelson’s autistic brother joins her at her elite school, she’s determined not to let anyone know they're related. Even if that means closing herself off to all her closest friends, including charming football stud Alex Colby. But despite her best intentions, she just can't shake the memory of kissing Alex last summer, and the desire to do it again.

Trouble Is A Friend Of Mine by Stephanie Tromly

YA Contemporary, Mystery – August 4, 2015

Sherlock meets The Breakfast Club in this story of a wisecracking girl who meets a weird but brilliant boy and their roller-coaster of a semester that's one part awkward, three parts thrilling, and five parts awesome.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

YA Fantasy, Comics – May 19, 2015

The graphic novel debut from rising star Noelle Stevenson, based on her beloved and critically acclaimed web comic, which Slate awarded its Cartoonist Studio Prize, calling it "a deadpan epic."

Who else should be on this list? Is there an upcoming release I don't know about and you're super excited about? Let me know!!

[Review} Little Peach by Peggy Kern

Title: Little Peach

Author: Peggy Kern [Twitter]

Publisher: Balzer & Bray/HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins

Genre: Young Adult Fiction - Contemporary, Social Issues

Release Date: March 10, 2015

Source: ARC provided by the publisher. Opinions are honest and my own. – review policy here.

Little Peach explores a really interesting subject. Not because it's new but because it's often referred to in a historical or foreign context... sex trade. Little Peach is a young girl who is in the hospital recounting how she got to this point. 

Kern's writing is griping and comes with a quick pace which develops into a solid read with a smaller page count. The only tip-offs to Kern's privilege come through a couple of authenticity slip ups but the revelations she brings to the forefront more than make up for this. 

Little Peach and her companions bring to life the underground world of modern-day sex trade through the unveiling of gang and pimp culture in the pursuit of the American dream. Kern's ability to narrate the girls and their handlers in such a way that the public would never suspect they are kept under control, etc. furthers the realism and disbelief.

This is an extremely short read but each page is more and more revealing. You keep turning in an attempt to understand how this happened to Little Peach and the other young women, to see how easy it is to fall down the rabbit hole, and to keep from being completely horrified all at the same time. 

Recommended for readers who enjoy crime procedurals such as Criminal Mind and Law & Order: SVU. There are several triggers in this novel that may not be comfortable for some readers including drugs, sex, and violence.

4 Stars – Gritty tale that brings a fresh light to a real American problem.

Bookish Blabber #5: My trip down a black hole, some changes and a new light

My trip down a black hole...

It's so crazy because I've always thought I was in pretty good health. And I am... sort of. So after attending ALA Midwinter I got sick. Just run of the mill winter sick. It wasn't the physical illness that did me in though. It was the mental aspect of it that completely exhausted me. I can't event explain it, I wish I could because it would probably be easier to type all of this out. I was in a funk, lethargic, I couldn't even read for more than an hour or so without wanting to sink into the pit of the earth. I finally decided I was tired of feeling this way and I had made another big decision in my life so it was time to schedule some appointments. The good news here is I'm now back in control of my physical health and that's pretty awesome. 

Some changes...

However, my "funk" still persisted.... womp, womp. I wanted to read, I wanted to blog, I wanted to run and play and do all the things. But I could barely talk myself into leaving the house. This came to a HUGE second decision. I started my own business from home and I sat down with my boss to discuss my upcoming end date. I'll be leaving the university at the end of the spring term. Making this decision was like lifting a boulder off my chest! It's crazy how verbalizing what I wanted/needed to do made everything so real and my plan of action real. 

A new light...

I've come to the conclusion that my "funk" was fear. Unfortunately, since I have anxiety it just made everything that much worse. I'm thinking about seeing a therapist but that's scary too... haha. So maybe. I'm also doing much better. Knowing I have a plan has made getting up in the morning easier. My days are fuller and I come home not completely wiped out. Bonus, I'm starting to read again. For more than an hour at a time. This is inspiring since I'm used to finishing a book in one sitting. 

Another byproduct was that I felt like a failure at a number of things and scared to start back up again. I'm working through that by doing what? Creating plans! Haha, my best coping mechanism to to plan all the things. I'll be focusing on balancing my plans so I don't get overwhelmed and I'm still effective at work, home and on the blog. 

Not a new me, but a RE-newed me.

By no means have I figured out all my issues but I feel like I'm in a better place. I'm ready to jump back on Twitter and Instagram after being absent for a month. I'm ready to blog regularly. I'm SOOOO ready to read and I'm ready to take those next steps professionally. 

Talk to me:

Have you ever needed to make a change?

Felt like you were in a"funk"?

How'd you work through it? Take those next steps?