Pirating Books and the Great Tumblr Debate

I was going to post something awesome about Star Wars since it's May the Fourth, but instead I've been thinking of something else the last couple of days that I felt I needed to add my two cents to.

I follow a lot of my favorite authors on Twitter and Tumblr. They always have something fun or inspiring to say, talk a lot about writing, and are generally fun people. And then, a couple days ago my Twitter and Tumblr blew up with tweets and posts asking people to not pirate books. And then a huge debate took over going back and forth between authors and people. And some of the things the people were saying were just horrible. And right now, I'm part of the 'people' group, but some day I'm going to be part of the 'author' group, so this one kind of hit me, and really made me think. Also, pirating books? That's a thing? Whut?

So, for this, I'm going to do something a little different, and use quotes and try to write like I know what I'm talking about, or at least sound intelligent. Because some of the things these people were saying just blew me away at how... I don't even have a word for it. Wrong? Out there? Upsetting? Entitled? I could probably go on. But anyway, here I go.

It started with a few posts by YA author Erin Bowman, who wrote Taken and it's sequel Frozen, which I admit, I haven't read either yet. They're on my to be read list, but it's kind of a long list, so it might take me a while to get there. She wrote:

I'm so tired of seeing my books  (or any book) pirated. It doesn't even get me in a rage anymore. I'm just sad, defeated, and depressed.

and

Go to the library. Request they buy a copy. DL the sample if you're "not sure you'll like it." Borrow from a friend. Ask for it for you[r] bday

and

I could go on, but in short: you are not entitled to free entertainment. You are not entitled to steal my next paycheck. STOP PIRATING BOOKS

Those make sense, right? Pirating is stealing, stealing is wrong, correct? When this and others like it starting flooding my Twitter, it really took me aback. I knew music and movies were pirated (everyone in the military seems to do it... it's really quite shameful) but I had no idea that books were pirated too. The thought of someone pirating books horrified me, because as a hopeful writer, I can understand how that would really cut into someone getting paid.

So on Tumblr you can post something, and people can repost it with their added comments. After these three Tweets were compiled and put on Tumblr, everyone started reposting and adding their thoughts. The  first couple were nice. But then someone said something that started it all.

Whoever it was, wrote some excuses for reading a pirated copy; own the book but can't find it, don't want to support the author (and proceeded to name Orson Scott Card who apparently is hated on the internet for bigotry against homosexuals. Huh?) but still want to read the book, etc. The next person rebutted that with a post about not being entitled to steal something, even if you have the aforementioned reasons. That person talked about how reading pirated books supports piracy. And then they talked about how it's okay to not support an author of you don't like them, but pirating is not the way to not support someone.

Next up, someone brought up the issue of the economy and how the average (young) reader doesn't have the money to buy books or the time to go to the library [which I call bullcrap on]. Then they said something about it isn't a good idea to spend $10-$20 on a book that you MIGHT like, because if you hate it your are stuck with it. [What? Since when? Have you never heard of donating to a library? Or a thrift store?] They continued on with more examples and 'factors' that could lead a person to pirate a book, and ended their little thing with 'we can't always support you financially, so we'll just support you with social media.'

Then someone put her short bit in, by taking "issue with the excuse that young readers don't have TIME to go to the library." And I agree with her, because it's not that pre-teens and teens don't have time to go to the library, it's that they chose to use their time for other things. She then asked if everyone could stop excusing the pirating behavior by removing personal responsibility.

Then someone else came in and started ranting about "how telling somebody to just go get the book from the library is a laughable joke," and went on to list a whole bunch of reasons libraries are not a good way to get books. [This is the sound of me staring dumbly at that statement. Duuuuuuuh.] There were a whole bunch of reasons, and they all were all very stupid interesting to read.

After that, thankfully the debate went back to someone with sense. This time, they talked about waiting, and how the society of instant gratification has made waiting a foreign concept. And that they have no patience for the impatience argument. [I'm cheering now. Someone with sense! This is the truth!]

The good sense didn't last long, however, as the very next person said something about how "having your books pirated makes the authors more money." [Jaw drop, because whut? What planet do you live on?] And then they talked about how they don't read books by selfish authors, i.e. authors who complain about their books being stolen, authors who don't like fanfiction, authors who cause trouble, etc. And then they tried to remind authors that "your reputation matters. If you aren't grateful for what you have, no one is going to want to give you more." [I can't even...] In conclusion, they finished up with the argument that authors are paid in advance, and so even if the book bombs or people steal it it doesn't matter, because it's already been paid for.

Next up someone took the time to correct the 'paid in advance' misconception, and said that yes, we get paid in advance, but not very much and we have to pay it back in royalties before we see anymore money. Which makes sense, because it's an 'advance.'

Then someone went on this really long tirade about how you chose your job, you shouldn't quit your day job if you aren't making enough money writing, don't blame the readers, etc. Then compared writing to a bunch of different jobs, and different amounts of words for different 'levels' of writers. e.g. 1k every day is part time. 3-5k every day is full time. Which I call BS on, because I know for a fact that 3-5k is really hard for novel writers to write on a consistent basis. My all-time favorite writer, Brandon Sanderson, has said he averages about 2.5k every day. And he's most definitely a professional, full time writer with more than a few hefty books under his belt. Of course, every writer is different, but to arbitrarily put daily word requirements for whether you are part time or full time is not correct, and not being fair to all the professional writers out there who do write full time and don't write that many words in a day. It's not how many words you produce, it's the quality of words you produce, and the amount of time spent. You don't see cashiers being paid according to how many customers they helped in a day. Yes, there are commission-based jobs, but writing novels is not really one of them.

Anyway, that wasn't the end of their really long post. they went on to talk about how it's really the poor people who can't afford your books who are pirating them, because otherwise they wouldn't get to read them. The person really talked about how the original author, Erin Bowman, was saying " 'Don't read my books unless you have money or your community has money!' " And since I'm trying to be nice in this post, I can't say what I want to say about this.

Then the original poster, Erin Bowman comes in and corrects the person [as she should have, the person was putting nasty words in her mouth.] She said "no one is entitled to STEAL entertainment," and called books a luxury, not a necessity. Which is absolutely true. She then went on to set the record straight even more about how advances and royalties work, and to be honest it was very eyeopening. She also said she was "getting so tired of feeling like the bad guy in this conversation," and I really feel for her.

The last person on the very long list of reposts was another author who talked about the sense of entitlement and how the argument that 'poor people need to resort to piracy in order to read anything' was appalling, in poor taste (pun not intended) and needed to stop. She then went on to talk more about advances and royalties, [wow, that's an awful small amount to live off of for three years... good thing I'm not doing it for the money...] and finished with another thing about how there are other ways to get books and that "paying for things and waiting for things never hurt anyone." [Well said.]

Now let me put in a quick little thing before I finish. I did not grow up with money. Sure, we had what we needed, my dad made at least that much for the first half of my life, but we were always in so much debt that when my dad was in school and we were just living off his military pension things were really tight. I had to earn my own money if I wanted anything extra, and I don't think I ever bought a brand new book until I was sixteen or seventeen and had a job of my own. But before that, I earned money through baby sitting, and it wasn't very much.

But I loved reading, and wanted to have books, so I had to get creative. I went to the library as often as I could. Before I was thirteen that meant waiting until the family trip to the library, but after that we lived close enough to walk to a library in all the houses we lived in. And I put my legs to good use, walking to the library and hauling home backpacks full of books to read. I shopped at thrift stores and always made a beeline for the book section (I still do.) I bought books at yard sales where they were ten cents a piece, or at books fairs where they were under five dollars.

So a lot of trash-talking went down, and I learned a lot of interesting facts. Readers apparently pirate books. Writers don't make a lot of money [I knew that already, I just didn't know to what extent.] And a lot of people on the internet and in this fast paced society of instant gratification don't have any common sense or sense of guilt for breaking not only civil laws against piracy, but also laws of decency towards fellow humans and the laws of God, which are very clear and ultimate.

Sorry this was a long one.

Thanks for read.

February Reading Wrap-Up Video

As promised, here is the video, my very first in a hopefully long career of bookish videos. Note: This is my very first video ever filmed and edited, so it might not be the greatest. Also, it took me two days to edit it because my program kept crashing and losing all my hard work.

Have you read any of these books? If you have, tell me what you thought!

If you have some video filming or editing suggestions, tips, or tricks, I would love to hear about them!

Thanks for reading and watching!

February Wrap Up

I was going to have an awesome video to post, and it would have been my first foray into the booktube world. But it took me 3 hours to edit the video, and before I could save it the program crashed and I lost all the editing I had done. :*( So instead, I'm going to edit it again Saturday night, and it will be up as the regularly scheduled post Sunday morning. Until then, I read 11 books in 28 days, which is my new record, and I found a new favorite.

Thanks for your patience!

Teenagers

I dislike teenagers.

Let me be more specific.

I dislike modern teenagers. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about modern teenagers that annoy me.

But at the same time, I love reading Young Adult fiction, because I am almost always guaranteed a clean read. So sometimes I have to read about snotty, selfish, whiny, melodramatic teenagers.

Thankfully, I prefer a type of YA that eschews those kinds of teens. Generally, fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian books have teen protagonists that are more mature, and wise beyond their years. Those kinds of teenagers I am okay with.

Sorry this was such a short post, I got distracted.

Is there an age group that you don't like reading about? How about a certain kind of character? Tell me about them in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Control, by Lydia Kang

Control, in Hardcover

Read February 4-February 18

First let me pause to take a breath. Except for the first chapter or two, I read this book in one sitting, and I'm still a little breathless because it was such a wild, fast-paced ride.

I read Control as part of an online read-along with my favorite booktubers. Normally I probably wouldn't have picked this book up. The blurb sounds interesting, but I'm usually more drawn to fantasy than science, and this is definitely a science fiction. However I would have been at a loss, and I'm really glad I read it.

The world building was fairly simple, but it didn't really need a whole lot.  There was plenty of futuristic technobabble to create the atmosphere, and just enough explanation of the world was given to make sense of how the world had changed. And most, if not all, of the tech and geography changes felt like a logical destination tow here our current world is headed.

Most of the characters felt barely fleshed out, however, and a lot of things suffered because of the super fast pace. But for it's faults, and it's weirdness, it was a good, easy book to read, and the world needs easy books to read just as much as it needs hard books to read.

Rating: Keeper

Have you read Control? If you have, tell me what you though! If you haven't, tell me about the last science fiction you read, I would love to hear about new books!

Thanks for reading!

The Little Lady Agency, by Hester Browne

The Little Lady Agency, in Hardcover

Read February 12-February 17

I read chicklit very infrequently. I have enjoyed Sophie Kinselle books in the past, but for the most part chicklit doesn't interest me enough to entice me to pick one up. However, I promised my mom I would read her one of her favorite books, because she's read a lot of books on my recommendation and I felt I should reciprocate.

The Little Lady Agency is a fun romp through British social life, and the life of naive and funny Melissa, and I did enjoy it, despite myself. It's funny, and cute, and I can't help but feel a bit similar to Melissa, in more ways than one.

Some of the middle of the book was hard to get through because when Mom was reading it a while back she spoiled the whole series for me. So a certain large part of the book that was dedicated to one relationship that I know won't last felt like it dragged a bit. It was a little disappointing that I couldn't just enjoy it, but what can I do? This is why I don't like spoilers of any kind.

The end of the book was fantastic and had me giggling and making me look crazy to my co-workers, although at this point they are kind of use to behavior like this. Revelations were made, just deserts were passed out, and it ended on a happy, uplifting note. Just the kind of ending I love.

Rating: Keeper, though I would have to be in the right kind of mood to read something like it again. And unfortunately I have to mail it back to my mom. Sad face.

Have you read The Little Lady Agency? Tell me what you thought in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Epic Fantasy and Setting

Ever since Tolkien published The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the epic fantasy genre has pretty consistently followed the standards he set up. The same general type of races, the same general type of quest plot, the same good struggling against almost incomprehensible evil, and the same sweeping European Medieval-style setting. There are plenty of exceptions out there, but for the most part, those exceptions are not the ones people think of when they think of 'epic fantasy'.

Even in the past, the traditional Medieval Europe setting hasn't really interested me. I was always more interested in Greek and Roman, and Egyptian mythology rather than Norse and, and I've never been very good at getting through the epic fantasy novels, although I love reading epic fantasy. Admittedly this is partially because they are usually door-stoppers and I don't have that kind of patience when it comes to reading, but it's also because of the completely overused and unoriginal European Medieval settings.

And then I started learning more about Korea and China and Japan and the rich history and culture they collectively have. It was love at first sight, for the Eastern part of the world. True, I'm a little bit biased towards Korea, but I still love the history and relationships the three major Asian countries have with it other and how they have influenced each other, the effects of which are still see today. And I started wondering why there weren't more epic fantasies set in this part of the world, when it is so obviously just as epic and sweeping and grand as Medieval Europe.

I still haven't found an exact answer to that, nor have I found an epic fantasy series that is set in this part of the world, not as the 'exotic' part of the setting but as the 'normal' part. Because Asia does pop up, but only as that 'exotic' element meant to give the world a more diverse feeling to it, and meant to show the differences between the main culture and kingdom and the 'other' parts of the world. Tamora Pierce's setting of Tortall is a good example of this.

I want to change this propensity towards Medieval Europe. I want to write an epic fantasy that breaks the mold, one that changes people's idea of what an epic fantasy setting can be. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do this, but I'm working on it. And maybe someday my  name will be among the great ones, the ones who defined the genre for what it is. Is that a little too greedy? Well if it is, I don't care, because I want to shoot for the stars.

In the books you read is there a certain setting you're tired of seeing used over and over again? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Playing Catch Up

I'll be honest, the review for The Darkest Minds, which I read last month, has been sitting as a draft since I finished the book. I read an article on how to write book reviews and it was all analytic stuff so my brain froze and I couldn't get anything written down.

Because I can't do anything analytical. That's not how I read, so unless there was something big, by the time I'm don reading and ready to write a review I struggle to find things to say. Other than gushing and fan-girling, of course. I'm sure if I tried paying more attention while I read and tried to be more analytical I would be able to write those kinds of reviews, but honestly, that's not why I read. I read to enjoy a good story, to lose myself in a new world completely different than our own. And that's not why I write reviews. I review the books I read so that hopefully I can convince someone to read it as well, or convince someone to never touch it.

So I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not. I'm going to continue posting book reviews that are gushy and fan-girly and enthusiastic. Because that's who I am, and that's how I read.

Here are some quick and dirty reviews of the other books I Read last month, to catch up a little before jumping into the reviews for February.

The Darkest Minds, by Alexandra Bracken - It was an exhausting read, but so worth it in the end. And I have a new book boyfriend and his name is Liam Stewart.

In Time, by Alexandra Bracken - (short story) As a short story in between books one and two of The Darkest Minds trilogy, it was perfect and amazing and totally and completely heartbreaking. Ouch.

Never Fade, by Alexandra Bracken - So much action, almost everyone's back together again, and the plot thickens! So amazing! And just as good as the first one!

Hyperbole and a Half, by Allie Brosh - Hilarious, totally true, and kind of like me.

A Local Habitation, by Seanan McGuire - It took me forever to get into this one, but it was a good enough urban fantasy. Glad I finally made it through it, though.

An Artificial Night, by Seanan McGuire - Better than A Local Habitation, but also really abnormal, compared to other urban fantasy. Interesting, and raises some interesting questions to be answered in later books.

Opal, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - This series just keeps getting better and better. These books are so addicting and hard to put down. Can't wait to read the next one!

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore - A really good fantasy with a strong female character, although there were not so subtle feminist threads to the story that kind of detracted from everything. But it was still a good romp and a fun read.

So now that I'm all caught up, I will return to my regular posting of book reviews when I finish reading books.

I hope you enjoy my bookish enthusiasm.

Thanks for reading!

January Wrap Up, February TBR

Books read in January (physical copies)

January was a great month. I read a lot of good books, keeping up a pretty good reading pace, and even got to use my rarely used Kindle. I swear, if I was allowed to bring it to work it would get more use out of it, especially since it's so hard to get books over here. While I didn't read nearly as fast as the first part of December, I kept up a decent and consistent pace, even though I didn't get many books read during the first part of the month. I read a total of six books, plus a short story and a novella on the Kindle.

Unfortunately for my budget, I also bought a lot of books this month. It was mostly paperbacks for Urban Fantasy series that I wanted to catch up on, but some hardcovers snuck in there as well. And since I've been spending so much money on books, I've decided that I need to go on a diet. I'm not going to quit altogether, because there are a lot of books coming out this year that I want to get, but I'm going to cut down as much as I can. Because I have four and a half shelves of books that I still need to read, so I honestly don't need any more.

February TBR, Minus One

For the month of January, I have seven books that I want to read. It's kind of a lot, but I have two books I'm borrowing and I ended up not reading most of my TBR for January, so it's kind of carrying over to February. So this month I'm going to try to read the following:

• The Little Lady Agency, by Hester Brown - This one is on loan from my Mom. We have an agreement, for every one of my books she reads I have to read one of hers.
• The Summoning, by Kelley Armstrong - Still on loan from my co-worker. I'm kind of struggling to get into this one.
• Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs - The sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.
• The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak - Carryover from January. I ended up going the reading club because they meet in the middle of the day, when I'm sleeping, but I still want to read it before I see the movie.
• Late Eclipses, by Seanan McGuire - Urban Fantasy, book four, about faeries, need I saw more?
• Opal, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Sequel to Obsidian and Onyx.
• Control, by Lydia Kang - Not pictured because it hasn't arrived yet. I will be reading this with a readalong on GoodReads with the BookTube community.

Have you read any of these? If you have, tell me what you think in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Booktube

Back in October I discovered something wonderful and addicting. I was looking for YouTube videos about NaNoWriMo, as that time of the year was approaching, and I stumbled upon Katytastic's YouTube channel. She talked a lot about NaNoWriMo, and about writing, but also a lot about books, and her videos were addicting and fun to watch. I'm pretty sure I have watched every single one she made. And I wanted more, so I took some key words and phrases, like 'book haul' and 'bookshelf tour' and 'reading tag', and I went looking for more.

And I discovered a fairly large community of readers who post videos about their reading and books and bookshelves and generally spread their love of books to other people through their upbeat videos. These people are not ashamed to say they bought a lot of books, not ashamed to show their craziness to the world. They obsess over how their books look on their shelves, obsess over books coming out soon, create reading challenges for each other, and most of all, they read. A lot.

Finding this online community was like finding where I belonged. There were more people like me who were unapologetic about how many books they bought and read, who were a little bit crazy and hyper about books and not afraid to show it. In my career field, these kinds of people are rare. You are more likely to find video gamers and Magic the Gathering players than readers, at least not at the same level I'm at. And not noly that, most of this community I've found read the same kind of books I do. The intelligent conversations about books I have been unconsciously craving for years had finally been found.

Here's a quick, basic list of some of my favorites:
Katytastic
Jesse the Reader
Poland Bananas Books
Ariel Bissett
Bookables
Little Book Owl
The Gwendolyn Reading Method
And many more. I think I'm following about 30 booktubers right now, and always on the lookout for more.

These people rekindled my desire to read like I used to. Like I've said before, the internet stole away most of my time after I discovered it, but now thanks to these awesome people I'm reading again, almost as voraciously as I did as a child and teenager.

And most of all, their influence makes me want to make booktube videos like they do. Even as I struggle with my self-image and my shyness, I want to join their video community so that I too can influence someone to read more, and so I can have a group of friends to talk to about the books I love.

So despite my misgivings about showing my face and crazy weird personality to the world, I'm going to be attempting this new, scary thing, with the hope that someday I can be the reason someone started reading again, or started reading more.

Have you ever done something scary because you thought it would help someone in the future? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

A Ramble on Reading, Writing, and Life

Most of my life I have been a very avid reader. According to my mom I always had my nose stuck in a book after I learned how to read, and my favorite place to go was the local library, where I would literally check out armfuls of books, sometimes so large I couldn't carry them all. I loved books and libraries so much as soon as I was 14 and old enough, I signed up for volunteer work at the library, then tried to get a job there when I was 16. When I did get the job on my second try, I quickly discovered that it was not the job for me. A lot of the time I got caught up reading the books instead of shelving them, especially the kids books.

Almost as long as I have been reading, I'm been writing and telling stories. A lot of my earliest stuff has since been erased from anything and everything because they were so embarrassing, but I have a portable hard drive full of all the different things I've tried to write over the years. Probably even before I knew it was an option, I've wanted to be a writer. Usually this was along side my other widely varied career choices, such as marine biologist, journalist, librarian, crime scene investigator, etc. But being a writer has stuck around the longest.

Of course, I'm not the greatest at writing. Sure, I've heard more than my fair share of good things about what I do write, along with a good deal of constructive criticism that has helped me along the way, but I have zero completed projects, even after writing for as long as I have. It's sort of been an on again off again hobby with delusions of grandeur.

And everything sort of fell apart when I discovered the time-consuming world of the internet, specifically YouTube. Suddenly I was spending all my time watching things instead of reading or writing. And then it got worse when I discovered K-Pop and Korean Dramas. Because then instead of reading and writing I was spending hours and days staring at a computer or TV screen watching TV or music videos. And then the Air Force happened and suddenly even time to do that was gone.

Last year I read an embarrassing grand total of 25 books, most of them in the last three months. And the novel that I have been working on since I was 16 still doesn't have a single usable word written. Essentially  my life has kind of stalled, again.

My life happens in fits and starts. Sometimes I'm progressing forwards with a lot of momentum, and other times it feels like my life is going no where. While I was studying Korean in California, my life was moving forward. I was progressing with a goal, and I was getting things done, at least in one aspect of my life. Now that I'm not doing any kind of training anymore and I'm just working, my life has become stuck again, much like how it was before I joined the military. And I don't know how to jump-start it again. It's not like I can join the military, since I'm already in.

I've been thinking about this a lot this last weekend, mostly because I was bedridden with some pretty nasty cramps and had nothing else to do but think of how my life reached this point. I still haven't made a decision, but I feel pretty close to one. Like it's sitting at the tip of my brain, just waiting to come out. Much like when you're trying to think of a word but can't quite remember what it is.

I want to get my life going again. I want to have a life that is full of progression and forward movement and excitement. I just have to come up with a way to bring that back.

Any ideas?

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you felt static? I'd love to hear about it and how you got through it!

Thanks for reading!

The Misfortune Cookie, by Laura Resnick

The Misfortune Cooking, in paperback

Read January 12 to January 16.

This is the sixth book in a fluffy urban fantasy series that I really love. The series is about a woman, Esther Diamond, who is a struggling actress in New York City who, because of her circumstances, gets mixed up in a bunch of magical mysteries that she solves with the help of a 300 plus year old wizard, a very skeptical police detective, and a wide and varied cast, depending on the book. I read the first book at the beginning of 2013, then marathoned through books two through five in October, and pre-ordered the six, this one. It took me a while to get to this book, mostly because I got in to a YA mood and read a lot of YA books instead of my normal diet of urban fantasy.

I won't say much about what happens in the book, because as the sixth in a series, a lot that happens relates to previous books, and unless you've read all the books up to this point it won't make sense. So I'm just going to talk around those types of things in this review.

First off, it was a good book. Maybe not quite as good as the earlier books, but better than book two -- which I was stuck on for months and months -- and better than some other books I've read. As it's been since October since I last read anything in this series, and I read them all together at that, I had forgotten how weirdly slow the books could be by way of solving the mystery. It's not like a hard to read or get through type of slow, because the whole book is tense and full of a lot of 'action' and suspense, and there is never a dull moment when Esther is involved. It's more like it always takes Esther and cohorts a long time to get all the clues together and finally put it all together to solve the problem. And usually it takes more than a couple of bodies.

This isn't really a bad thing, because I love reading about Esther's life and everything she goes through as a starving actress. But in this one it was just a tad tedious, but not for this reason specifically.

There is a very intense and sizzling sort of romance between Esther and the police detective, Connor Lopez. They both have a thing for the other, but Connor tends to get in the way when Esther is investigating, and Connor thinks Esther is crazy for believing in magic and the like, so even after six books they aren't 'together'. And something happened at the end of book five that was supposed to resolve all that tension and finally put them together, but between book five and six Connor did a stupid, very man-like thing, and throughout most of The Misfortune Cookie Esther was throwing a hissy fit and whining about it. And this was what got on my nerves.

Esther is a very self-reliant, awesome woman, and she's usually pretty clear headed. So her whining in book six just seemed out of character, and I really didn't like it. It was such a relief when they finally talked it out a hundred pages from the end, and I hope we don't have to go through this again in future books. Because heavens, woman, get a grip.

Other than that, it was a great book, and a great addition to the series. Now I just have to wait a year for the next book. *sob*

Rating: Keeper

Have you read a book or series where one or more characters acted out of character? Or maybe did something in character that just annoyed you? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Onyx, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Onyx in paperback

Read January 10 to January 11

Again, I said I was reading one thing, The Dream Thieves, but I ended up reading something else. I'm maybe seeing a trend here.

Onyx is the sequel to Obsidian, and in terms of sequels, it knocked my socks off. The two books I gave up on to read these two were both sequels, and didn't have quiet the impact as sequels as Onyx did. Because this book took everything the author had built up in book one and cranked it up to eleven. The romance was better, the main character was better, even the plot conflict, while built on what had happened before, was better. Jennifer L. Armentrout really knows how to put her characters through the ringer, then force them to live and work through the consequences to their actions.

And one of the biggest things I loved about this book? There was a theme under it all about choice, and how everyone has choice and has to live with the consequences of their choice. Which is one of my favorite things to see, because it doesn't show up very often. And it is an important thing to learn, especially nowadays.

A down point, however, was the fact that the bad guy for this book was the Department of Defense. Now, I can understand having a secret government agency as a big baddie, but using the DoD as a blanket term for a government agency strikes me as ignorant. Because the DoD covers a lot of different groups. The US Military being one of them. It felt like every time the DoD was mentioned, I -- as a member of the US Military -- was being lumped in with the black-suit-bad-guys from the government. And that rankled me just a little bit.

Not enough to turn me off from reading this book, though, because the chemistry between Katy and Daemon is as hot as the surface of the sun, and I can't wait to read the next book. Just as soon as it arrives in the mail.

Rating: Keeper

Have you read any sequels that were better than the first book? Tell me about them in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

December Reading Wrap-Up, January TBR

On the first of each month, I'm going to post a little wrap up of everything I read the last month, and list out what I hope to read for the coming month.

Some of the Dec2013 books I read

December was a good month for my reading. At least, the first half was. I read six books in the first twelve days, which may be a personal record of some kind. The second half of the month wasn't quite as good, because I got stuck on a sequel that wasn't quite as good at the first one. And I lost a lot of reading time because of that. Eventually I skipped it and moved on, and I finally finished the month off with just one more book, bringing the total up to seven.

I bought a lot of books in December. And when I say a lot of books, I mean a lot. I wasn't keeping count of how many I bought, but I went to the English bookstore in Seoul at least three times, and got a bag full each time. And one trip I went to two bookstores. So my pile of books to read kind of grew a lot more than I wanted. But, I have a good feeling about this coming year. It's going to be a good year.

Jan2014 TBR

Now, normally I don't have any particular order for what I read. All my books sit together on the shelf and I pick out what strikes my fancy, much like at a library. But since I have so many books I have to read this year, I decided that I need a little bit more structure. Obviously it won't be too ridged, because I don't read like that. But it will at least be something like "I have to read something from this stack of books this month instead of just anything."

So for January I'm going to try to read the following:

• The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak - I'm joining a book club at the local library, and this is what they're starting this month.
• Onyx, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Because I just finished the first book and I'm really excited to see what happens.
• Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer - I'm a little nervous about this one, because I don't know how much of the previous book, Cinder, I remember.
• The Dream Thieves, by Maggie Stiefvater - Because I really should have read this sooner.
• The Summoning, by Kelley Armstrong - I don't own this book, I'm just borrowing it from a co-worker, so I kind of have to read it as soon as I can.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian in Paperback

Read from December 26 to December 30

I know my reading page said I was still reading Days of Blood and Starlight, but I had to set that one aside because I just wasn't getting into it. Maybe it was because it didn't quite live up to the first book, or maybe I just needed a break from that world, but I had to put it back into the rotation of books to read. And in the mean time, I picked up Obsidian.

I can't say it was recommended by anyone, but my favorite book vlogger has talked about it, and when I saw the first two books on sale on Amazon, I jumped at the chance to get them. Because I'm addicted to buying books, of course. I'm sure you guys have figured that out by now. Anyway, I started reading it with only a vague idea of what it was about. Something about hot aliens living next door. I wasn't really paying attention while I read it, either. I just sort of picked it up when I felt like reading, and didn't invest much effort into it. It was good, but for what I could tell it was not the best thing I had ever read.

But then something surprising happened. I found myself picking it up a lot. I read it during commercial breaks while watching my favorite drama (Spring Waltz, if you're curious), I read it before passing out at bedtime,  and any other moment I could convince myself it was okay to read -- meaning not a work, unfortunately.

There was just something about the main character, Katy, and how she reacted to everything. Honestly, the whole story was just a tiny bit like Twilight, but better. Sure, it was about a teenage girl who moves to a small town and meets a hotter-than-humanly-possible teenage boy and things happen. The differences were many, and I think the author of Obsidian handled the whole thing a lot better than Stephenie Meyer did. The biggest reason I say this is because Katy, unlike Bella, doesn't take any crap from anyone. She is a spunky teenager who kind of reminds me of myself, and even as she is physically attracted to the main guy, Daemon, she refuses to let that physical attraction get in the way of telling him off when he's being a jerk.

And he's a jerk to her a lot. He definitely runs hot and cold around her, but after reading the whole thing, including the bits of bonus chapters at the end that are told from his point of view, it all makes sense. He is a whole person, a well rounded character who acts consistent with his personality. He's not going to be my favorite book guy, no matter how gorgeously he's described, but he feels like a real character, and that's what counts.

The world building was great, the plot flowed fairly well, and the language wasn't horrible. It had it's moments of being overly flowery when describing how Katy felt about Daemon, but it did so in a way that made sense, so it can be forgiven.

My favorite part of it all? The fact that Katy saved the day in the end. Other than the obvious ones like Hunger Games and Divergent, it's been my experience that if there is a guy who can do everything and is hotter than hot, he's going to be the one saving the day, even if it's from the girl's point of view. Sure, the girl sometimes helps, but that's about it. With this one, not only did Katy save the day once, but she did it twice.

And then there's a little something at the end of the book that made me squeal and want to read the sequel, Onyx. It's a spoiler so I'm not going to say more, but it was really good and well done.

Rating: Keeper. Possibly Re-readable.

Have you read anything where you didn't like the guy but you could understand why the girl did? How about when you couldn't understand why the girl liked the guy? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor

Read from December 10 to December 12.

Now this is the kind of book I love to read. Where the language is beautiful and lyrical and evocative, almost on the verge of becoming Purple Prose. This is also the kind of book I want my novels to be like.

The beginning was... interesting. There were a few things that I raised my eyebrows at, but they were quickly over and I moved past them. After that, everything was a wild, mysterious, and wildly beautiful ride towards the end. I loved how except for a few scenes, the entire book was set in Prague, which is not a usual setting for a young adult novel. And one one scene out of the whole thing was in the United States. A certain aspect, not unlike one I made up a month ago for my own trilogy, gives the book the world as its stage.

The story was just fabulous. I was thrown for a loop on several twists, although I did predict one big one pretty far in advance. It was a story unlike anything I've ready before, and in YA that's always refreshing. Because like it or not YA tends to recycle the same story with different settings and characters. It has nothing to do with the lack of imagination of the writers and everything to do with the market. Teens tend to read the same type of story, gobbling up as much as they can get of what they like. And so the publishers try to churn out as much as they can of that kind of story until the market gets overrun with the same story. It's the nature of the game. So when I find something that is unique, a trend starter if you will, I always get a little thrill. This is something new, something original.

There were a couple of things I had a tiny problem with. One; There was no such thing as an average looking person. Everyone was beautiful or hideous. There was no in between, which isn't like real life at all. Mind you, this is a fantasy though and through, and there were definite reasons for the beauty and horror, but at the same time, it would have been nice to have at least a few characters who were normal. Two; It seems like writers don't know how to do real first aid.

Let me elaborate. In Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children one of the characters get's shot in the shoulder area. At least, that's the impression I got with the description. The other characters put a tourniquet on him. In Daughter of Smoke and Bone, a character get's mauled from "collarbone to bicep" and another character puts a tourniquet on him. Now, I'm not an expert, but I have been certified in professional level first aid before (years ago). And you don't put tourniquet's on injuries on those locations. It's physically impossible. So either I am imagining the injuries wrong, or the authors didn't do their research properly.

Those two things were minor compared to all the good things about this beautiful, haunting novel.

Rating: Re-Readable.

Have you read a book where the author didn't do their research and you could tell? What book was it? Tell me about it in the comments!

Have you read Daughter of Smoke and Bone? If you have, tell me what you thought in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell

Read from December 6 to December 9.

Back in October I read Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell. It was a fabulous book that I couldn't put down. I could really relate to the main character, and while it wasn't the kind of book I usually read (it's contemporary YA) it was just such a wonderful read. It left me with a bit of a book hangover afterwards of course, but sometimes the best books do.

Since I loved Fangirl so much, I wanted to read Rowell's other books. So when I saw Eleanor & Park on the shelves at the English bookstore, I jumped at the chance to get it. And I started reading it as soon as I could.

At first, it took a little bit of getting used to. Within the first couple of pages there was a surprising plethora of vulgar swear words, and on top of that I wasn't entirely sure I liked how the romance started. So I only read a little at a time, and for the most part it just sat on my night table unread. I wanted to finish it though, because I wanted to be able to say that I read it. I don't want to be the reader that doesn't finish books anymore.

So I sat down after work and started reading, determined to make at least a little headway. And then I pushed past the awkward beginning and couldn't put it down. First I was sure that I would be able to finish it on the 10th. I would read a little past the halfway point and then read the rest tomorrow after work. But I couldn't put it down, I just kept reading. I had to find out what happened to Eleanor, I had to find out how the relationship turned out.

It's heartbreaking. It's a really heartbreaking story about first love and real life and growing up. But it was the best teen romance I have read in a really long time, if ever. Because most of the time I don't like teen romance. Maybe it's because I'm cynical towards romance in general, but I really don't like it when teen romances (especially played up in YA fantasy) have the couple staying together. And feeling like they would die without the other. Because it's not realistic, and I have to have some realism in all the fantasy I read.

On top of that I really dislike insta-romance that happens a lot in YA fantasy (which is my normal genre.) Insta-romance is also very unrealistic and it always leaves me wondering why the couple are together. What makes them stay together? What do they even know about each other?

Eleanor & Park was not like this. The romance between the two grew slowly and naturally, kind of like how my first relationship had grown. It was refreshing, and because the story was told from both points of view I could see why each side liked the other and how they fell for the other. It made sense, and it was a beautiful first love.

Rainbow Rowell is very quickly becoming a favorite author because the relationships she writes about feel so real and natural, and her writing style just draws me right in.

Rating: Re-Readable

What do you think about the romances in books you've read? What are some of your pet peeves about romance?

Have you read Eleanor & Park? I would love to hear your thoughts! Tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Allegiant, by Veronica Roth

Read from December 2 until December 6.

I started reading this with a lot of trepidation. I really liked the previous two, and I read Insurgent (book two) in one sitting. And when Allegiant came out, all of the book bloggers I follow didn't know whether to love or hate the book, so I knew something really big was going to happen at the end. I knew that it would be something potentially book hangover inducing, so I was a little reluctant to actually get into it. I wanted to see how the story ended, but I didn't want the story to end. I wasn't ready to part with Tris and Tobias, not ready to leave the world they lived in. So it took me a couple of days to really start reading, and then to really gain the momentum needed to reach the end.

The first two hundred pages I took pretty slow. It wasn't that the book was slow, far from it. But like I said before, I wasn't sure if I was going to like the ending, and I didn't want to be let down. I had so many expectations, most of them pretty high. And I didn't want to be let down, so I took the book at a slower pace than I normally read.

And then today I had two long train rides so I decided that it was time to finish it. I finished it a few stops before returning home.

The ending was not what I expected. And I can understand why people would be unable to decide between loving it or hating it. I'm not going to say anything that would spoil it, because I personally hate spoilers, but I will say that the ending fit perfectly. It was a bittersweet ending, but there was no other way to do it. Veronica Roth was able to do what few authors can pull off well. If she had done it any differently I wouldn't have liked it as much. And I really liked the ending. Sure, the couple didn't end up together, and sure there was a lot of sadness, but it felt like the right ending. You know?

Rating: Keeper

Have you read Allegiant? If you have, tell me what you liked or didn't like about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

City of Glass, by Cassandra Clare

I swear, I don't normally read this much, or this fast. Honestly, I shouldn't be, either. I have a novel to finish writing, and I need to start planning my projects for next year. But I must have caught a bad case o the reader bug, because I can't stop reading, no matter what I get my hands on.

City of Glass is the third book in what was supposed to be a trilogy. It even has an ending that wraps everything up pretty nicely, with only a few thin treads sticking out, waiting to be plucked out and woven into a new story, which comes in the later books. Which I probably won't read.

First, I'd like to give some kudos to Cassandra Clare for writing a story and plot that pulled me along and kept its grip on me right up to the end, despite the fact that I hate the characters. Not just a few of them, no, I really hated all of the characters. That doesn't mean I didn't care what happened to them. No, Clare is a good enough writer that I couldn't help but care and worry and fret about what was going to happen to them, which is why I couldn't put it down. But I still disliked just about every last one of them. Which is hard to do, because I don't normally dislike people.

The characters weren't the only thing I had problems with. I still don't really like a lot of the language that Clare uses to describe things. They aren't natural descriptors, and sometimes it throws me off. I can't say it doesn't work, because she's published and I'm not, but it's just not something I like to read very often.

And once again, I have to say good job to Clare, because I am more than a little jealous of her ability to write actions scenes. They flow so well and draw you forward until you are reading and flipping pages frantically, desperate to know how the characters make it out of the horrifying mess.

Overall, it was okay. I was glad to finally reach the part where the thing that disgusted me from the first book was refuted. Admittedly I saw it from a million miles away from all the foreshadowing, but still. I was glad to finally get that over with. Now they can finally get together without all the whiny, mopey, guilty feelings getting in the way. Hallelujah!

Also, I still hate teenagers.

Rating: Keeper. For now.

Have you read City of Glass? If you have, tell me about your experience reading it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Again, this was written back on December 2nd, but scheduled for today because of reasons stated before.

I didn't mean to read this book. Honestly, I didn't. I had heard good things about it, sure, and I knew I wanted to read it at some point in the future, but I didn't think that would be today. Or yesterday, really, because I started and finished it on December 1st. But I was at the library to do something on the computers, and I can't go into a library without checking out the shelves, whether I plan on getting something or not. And then I saw Miss Peregrine sitting on the shelf.

It was like trying to resist a siren's song. So even though my current To-Read list is long and I have a little bit of order in what I plan on reading, I grabbed Miss Peregrine and checked it out. Again, I wasn't planning on reading it right away. I had two books on my urgent read list, and I wanted to finish those first before reading anything else. And on top of that I still had to finish my novel and start planning my novels for next year, so needless to say I was going to let it sit on my library shelf until I had a little more time.

And it didn't happen like that. After finishing City of Ashes, I was a little reluctant to jump right into City of Glass, which was at the top of my urgent read list. I needed a breather from all the bad similes and from Jace's jerk-ness. So I decided to start reading Miss Peregrine. I thought I could just read a handful of pages to get started. I didn't really know what to expect, because the blurb on the inside cover is VERY misleading.

So instead of just reading a little bit, I found myself devouring the book. I couldn't put it down. There was just something about the way it was written, something about the tone of the book that dragged me under like a riptide and refused to let me go. I was so enthralled by the book that -- even though I had a very important test in the morning that I needed to be well rested for -- I stayed up late reading until I finished it.

Part of it was the language. It was like a breath of fresh air after reading City of Bones and City of Ashes back to back. The language flowed so smoothly I never had to stop to wonder what I was reading or what the author was trying to describe.

The characters were believable as well. I felt like I could connect with the main character, Jacob, because he is an ordinary person -- to some extent -- and he had the reactions of a normal person.

The only real problem I had with Miss Peregrine was it was over too soon. Thankfully, book two -- Hollow City -- comes out in January.

Rating: Re-Readable. This is definitely a book I will be purchasing -- since I read it as a library book -- and I will probably read it again and again and again.

Have you read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? If you have, I want to hear what you thought about it! Tell me in the comments.

Thanks for reading!