Wrap Up: MAY

Hello everyone! Can you believe it's the end of May already? It honestly feels like Christmas was last month for me. But summer is finally upon us and hopefully the Scottish weather will pick up and we'll actually get some sun for once!

May has been a pretty good month for me. Both me and my fiancé turned 22 at the beginning of the month and we went off on our first holiday abroad together to Rome! We had a fantastic time and I'm already planning our next trip! 

Bookwise, in May I read 14 books (5 of which were re-reads) and the month seemed to be ruled by Kiera Cass and Jenny Han! 

I had two 5 star reads this month - both by Jenny Han - but I think P.S. I Still Love You has to be my favourite purely because of Lara Jean, Peter K and Kitty. It was such an adorable follow up to To All the Boys and I loved every second of it.

In June I've got another few re-reads that I want to do. I want to re-read Angelfall and World After by Susan Ee; Mystic City by Theo Lawrence and My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. There are a few other books I'd like to re-read, but I'm not sure if I'll get to them or not. But other than that, I'm just going to pick up whatever I'm in the mood for.

So that was my May wrap up!

What was your favourite read in May and what book are you most looking forward to reading in June?

Showcase Sunday #99

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. This meme allows book bloggers to show off the books they collected over the last week!

Hello everyone! Today has been a pretty quiet week - which I was happy about! I haven't done much this week apart from reading and catching up with TV Shows. I also went to the cinema and saw San Andreas yesterday and it's such a fantastic disaster movie! I loved it.

Bookwise, this week I haven't got much to show you which is good! I've got a few physicals books to show you and I got a book from netgalley.

Bought/Gifted

• physical

P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2) by Jenny Han

The Martian by Andy Weir

P.S. I Still Love You was a pre-order that I was dying to get my hands on! The Martian was a gift from Brittany for our challange this year!

• kindle

Blood Bound (Unbound #1) by Rachel Vincent

Library

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Angels (Walsh Family #3) by Marian Keyes

The Mystery of Mercy Close (Walsh Family #5) by Marian Keyes

Netgalley

The Kiss by Lucy Courtenay

What books did you get this week?

Legend by Marie Lu

Legend by Marie Lu
Series: Legend #1
Publisher: Puffin
Publication Date: February 2nd 2012
Source: Bought

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors.

Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles.

Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect.

Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

June is the 15 year old prodigy of the Republic. She's the only person to ever score full marks in their trial which makes her important. Day is 15 years old, and he's the most wanted criminal in the Republic. June's brother Metias is murdered and Day is the prime suspect. June is put on the case and is hunting down Day to make him pay for what he did to her brother. But, as June spends more time with Day, she begins to realise that there's something else going on and begins to uncover the truth of what happened.

June is a strong main character. She wants to prove herself to the Republic, prove that she's ready. She's determined to avenge her brothers death and bring Day down.

Day is an extremely resourceful and strong. He would do anything for his family, which ends up being his biggest downfall.

The Republic are covering up a lot and June starts to uncover what's been going on with the help of some notes from Metias. Metias had been trying to figure out what happened to their parents, and he left everything he discovered for June. The Republic are controlling everything and June uncovers some things about Metias's death and the plague that cause her to turn against the Republic.

There's bit of romance between June and Day. It's not the main focal point, but it's there. I wasn't a huge fan of it in Legend because it felt so rushed, but it might get better in the next books.

After everything Day lost in Legend, I hope he can save his brother Eden, since he's the only family Day has left. I also hope there's a bit more about the Patriots in the next book, I'm curious to learn more about them. Legend was a strong start to this trilogy and I can't wait to read the next two books.

Ten Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag This Summer

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This weeks topic is:

Ten Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag This Summer

1. Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher - Giovanna writes fantastic contemporaries and her newest one sounds like a great summer/beach read.

2. A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger - I've only read one of Keplinger's books so far, but I loved it and I need to read more.

3. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen - A Sarah Dessen book is a must for the beach.

4. Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty - Jessica Darling is hilarious and would definitely keep me entertained on the beach.

5. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - This is the only Matson book I haven't read, but I've heard it's a tear-jerker so I'll need to read it with my sunglasses on!

6. I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios - Another possible tear-jerker, but I'm dying to read it.

7. Breathe by Abbi Glines - This one just seems like the perfect beach read.

8. Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella - I adore Sophie Kinsella's writing style so I'd definitely bring one of hers to the beach since she's hilarious!

9. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen - Another Dessen book. I just love her books.

10. Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop by Abby Clements - An ice cream shops just screams beach read!

What books would be in your beach bag?

Unpopular Opinions TAG

I was tagged by Brittany @ This is the Story of My Reading Life.

I've been seeing this TAG around for quite a while and I've been wanting to do it, and since Brittany tagged me, I can finally get around to it!

1. A popular book or series that you didn't like

Beautiful Disaster was one of the very first New Adult books I picked up and I absolutely hated it. Travis Maddox is one of the most possessive characters I've ever read about. Abby couldn't do anything without him flying off the rails and she hardly ever stood up for herself. A weak female character and a male character that made me rage. I didn't get the appeal at all.

Real is another New Adult book that I completely despised. I got about 40% into this one before I decided to get a refund from Amazon because it was completely ridiculous. The sex descriptions made me want to throw up sometimes because they were that disgusting. I didn't like any of the characters either. It was a terrible book.

2. A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love

I had to use Goodreads for this one (lowest avg rating vs my rating). Landline only has an average rating of 3.56 and I gave it a 5. I adored Landline and it's quite possibly my favourite of Rowell's books.

3. A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with OR an OTP that you don't like

I literally cannot think of another love triangle that I didn't like the end of. I was a die hard Jacob fan when I read the Twilight series back in high school. I hated Edward and I always wanted Bella to end up with Jacob.

4. A popular book genre that you hardly reach for

Crime. I'm not a huge crime reader. I've read a few YA Crime/Thrillers, but I haven't read many.

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like

There's a lot of love for Gale out there, but personally, I really don't like his character. I remember rolling my eyes and making faces every time I had to read about him. My dislike of his character has only gotten worse with the movies.

6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into

Michael Grant is a very popular author, but I haven't liked any of his books. I only read two of the Gone books before I chucked them out; Eve and Adam was one of the worst books I've ever read and I just can't get into his BZRK series at all. He just isn't for me.

7. A popular book trope you're tired of seeing (e.g. "lost princess", corrupt ruler, love triangle, etc.)

Uhm, I'm kind of struggling with this one. I'm going to go with Insta-love. I'm really getting tired of reading a book when suddenly the main character catches the eye of another character and suddenly they're in love even though they've never spoke to/seen said character before. It really gets on my nerves. I have no problems with insta-lust because that's just purely natural if you find someone good looking, but insta-love isn't. I'm a huge romance fan, but this is really getting on my nerves now,

8. A popular series you have no interest in reading

For the past 14-15 years, I've had every intention of reading the Lord of the Rings series, but so far it hasn't happened and I'm thinking it probably won't now since I haven't even seen the movies...

9. The saying goes "The book is always better than the movie", but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?

I really loved Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern, but Love, Rosie was a fantastic movie adaptation! I adored the movie more than the book mainly because the ending seemed a lot more plausible and left me crying with happiness!

I'm not going to TAG anyone specifically because I don't know who has done it and who hasn't, but if you haven't and you want to do it, I TAG YOU!

Showcase Sunday #98

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. This meme allows book bloggers to show off the books they collected over the last week!

Hello everyone! I've had a busy couple of weeks and that's why I haven't had a Showcase Sunday post up in a while, even though I did gather quite a lot of books. I went on holiday to Rome just over 2 weeks ago and it was fantastic! The weather was brilliant - a bit too warm actually - and Rome is such a beautiful city.

OK, onto the books! I've acquired quite a few physical books over the past 3 weeks: a few pre-orders and some books I've been wanting to grab for a while; I got a couple of kindle books and a few e-arcs from Netgalley.

Bought

• physical

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J Maas

I actually own three copies of ACOTAR - two finished copies and one physical arc - and I also got my ACOTAR book plate!

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Half a King (Shattered Sea #1) by Joe Abercrombie

Fourth Comings (Jessica Darling #4) by Megan McCafferty

Perfect Fifths (Jessica Darling #5) by Megan McCafferty

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

The Heir (The Selection #4) by Kiera Cass

The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1) by Marie Lu

Half Wild (Half Bad #2) by Sally Green

Salt & Stone (Fire & Flood #2) by Victoria Scott

Vicious (Vicious #1) by V. E. Schwab

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

• kindle

Always the Bridesmaid by Lindsey Kelk

End of Days (Penryn and the End of Days #3) by Susan Ee

Netgalley

Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

Spinning Starlight by R. C. Lewis

One by Sarah Crossan

What books did you get this week?

Asa by Jay Crownover

Asa by Jay Crownover
Series: Marked Men #6
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: April 21st 2015
Source: Bought

Royal Hastings has been a cop, first and foremost, for most of her adult life. So when a call-out goes wrong and her partner ends up in hospital, she finds herself suspended from the job, indefinitely. With too much time on her hands and a heavy load of guilt weighing her down, she seeks solace in oblivion – otherwise known as a golden-eyed bartender with a rap sheet as long as her arm.

Asa Cross has spent his live on the wrong side of the law, but a near death experience has left him rebuilding his life and relationships. But being good is tougher than it seems – especially when being bad looks as good as Royal does.

On paper, the cop and the con seemed doomed to heartbreak – but when love has stolen your heart, how can you walk away?

The Marked Men series has officially come to an end and I'm in mourning. I've loved this series from book 1 when I picked up Rule at the beginning of last year and these boys and their ladies have a special place in my heart. Even Asa, the Southern charmer with a dark past. 

So, as you probably know Asa obviously focuses on Asa and one of the most kick ass ladies in this series, Royal. Royal and Asa already have a past since Royal had to arrest Asa in the previous book even though what happened wasn't his fault and Royal was extremely reluctant to bring him in. Due to his past, Asa is determined to keep Royal at arms length because he doesn't get involved with cops and also because he feels like he doesn't deserve a happy future.

Oh Asa, Asa, Asa. I wanted to give this boy a smack around the ears and tell him to get his shit together more than once throughout the book. Asa is on a self destructive path because he feels like he doesn't deserve a happy ending after the way he acted in the past. He's clinging onto his guilt over what he did and it's preventing him from moving forward. Asa is a charmer. He's sexy, a straight talker and extremely protective of his sister and people he cares about. He can't seem to understand that he's changed and he's no longer the boy he used to be.

Royal is a bad ass. She's in a bit of a downer after her partner got shot in front of her and she blames herself. She's stuck in a pool of guilt and can't seem to shake it. No matter how many people tell her it wasn't her fault, she just can't seem to move past it. She's fierce, tough and incredibly sexy, but Royal also has a lot of her own shit to figure out.

Royal has been drowning her sorrows over her partners injury and her suspension in the bar where Asa works and has been constantly propositioning Asa and trying to get him to take her home. But Asa's having none of it and is trying his hardest to keep some distance between them. But with the chemistry sizzling between them, it's not long before Asa has Royal pressed up against her car in the parking lot. Asa revolves around two characters trying to absolve themselves of the guilt they carry and finally getting to a place where they can both be happy. But Royal and Asa both have a long way to go before either of them reach that place. Asa is constantly trying to scare Royal away and prove that he's not what she deserves, and he can't see that he's put in a lot of work to get himself in a decent place.

There were a lot of pregnancies, births, weddings and engagements in Asa, which all left me with a stupid grin on my face and sometimes a few happy tears. My old favourites were constantly present in this book and I loved seeing how close knit their group is. They all care so much about each other. Rome has been a huge help in getting Asa to where he is today, and I loved seeing their bonding moments together.

The Marked Men series has been such an amazing series to read. It will always be one of my favourites and I still can't quite believe it's over. No more from my favourite characters. It's been a hell of a journey and these characters will always have a place in my heart and I can see myself re-reading this series every year. Asa was a perfect end to a fantastic series and I just want to thank Jay Crownover for writing such amazing stories and extremely loveable characters.