July new releases

With July almost right up our bums, I thought it was time to do some July new releases. So, what should we be expecting to see in July? You might ask well, that's what I'll tell you.

Firstly, the one I'm sure we were all waiting for *drumroll please* Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is released on the 31st. It almost makes up for the fact that I am so far away from the play itself. I am beyond excited for this one although I don't know if I'm actually mentally prepared for it just yet. I can't wait to get my hands on it regardless! The story follows Harrys youngest son Albus, I can only hope Albus is just as courageous as his mother and just as selfless as his father. I know this is going to exceed my expectations, I can feel a stellar review already and one that will certainly write itself. Mark it in your diaries boys and girls!








Next, a contemporary story and aren't we all suckers for a bit of contemporary (maybe that's just me). Signs of You by Emily France is being released on the 19th. The story follows a girl who's lost her mother, she has a small support group who have stuck by her. Riley thinks she spots her mum at the shop and worries she's suffering post traumatic stress. She alerts her friends of this who all tell her they've had similar experiences, aside from Noah whose a sceptic. When Noah goes missing Riley fears she's lost another loved one. As they hunt for Noah, the group find clues about the afterlife all the while Riley struggles with her feelings for the two boys in her life. This sounds pretty interesting and it's definitely something I'd like to pick up. Looking forward to it.


Now, we have A World Without You by Beth Revis which is being released on the 19th. A World Without You is about a boy who believes he can travel time, Bo is convinced his school is a school for people with superpowers. When Bo falls in love with Sofia who is deeply depressed and has the superpower of invisibilty, Sofia helps Bo to open up. In turn Bo gives her comfort. This, however, isn't enough to pull her out of her depression. Sofia commits suicide but Bo is convinced she's not dead, he believes she just stuck in time, that perhaps he left her in the past. The book follows Bo as he tries to save Sofia. This book sounds great, I haven't read anything from Beth Revis yet but from what I've been told shes an awesome author and I'm excited for this to hopefully be my first book of hers. It sounds very different and intriguing, I can't wait.

So, theres a quick look at what we have to look forward to in July. I hope you liked it and if you did let me know and I might do some more things like this in the future.

Tell me what you're looking forward to in July down in the comments! :)

A-Z of Books

Hello all,
Today I thought I'd challenge myself with an A-Z of books. I'm going to take them all from my read shelf and we'll see how many I can get from there. Hopefully I'll do this again this time next year and have a complete new list of A-Z with all the spots filled in. I'll also try not to use too many really mainstream books seeing as the idea of this is to be a fun challenge and to bring awareness to some more books. So, here it is, my A-Z of books.

A-Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
B-The Bees by Laline Paull
C-The Chocolate Promise by Josephine Moon
D-The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart
E-Entangled by Cat Clarke
F-Forgotten by Cat Patrick
G-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
H-The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I-Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova
J-Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
K-
L-The Last Time We Said Goodbye by Cynthia Hand
M-Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
N- Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
O-Outsiders by Tammy Ferebee
P-Persuasion by Jane Austin
Q-
R-Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
S-Shift by Em Bailey
T-This Raging Light by Laure Estelle
U-
V-Vicky Angel by Jacqueline Wilson
W-What We Left Behind by Robin Talley
X-
Y-The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub
Z- Zac and Mia by A.J. Betts

Only four letters missing, I can't wait to see if I can fill them out next year! Have a go yourself and see if you can complete the whole alphabet!

Defective by B. Austin

3.5 stars “My heart is cracked, my lungs have stopped breathing and anger is frying my brain” Defective is a book that reeled me in right away. Right from the first page, action is almost pouring out of it. The first few chapters are pretty jam-packed with information and action, which was a bit full on but I didn’t mind it so much because it cooled down soon. I do love a good book that can pick me up right away. I spent most of my night reading it and picked it right back up when I woke up to fi 3.5 stars “My heart is cracked, my lungs have stopped breathing and anger is frying my brain” Defective is a book that reeled me in right away. Right from the first page, action is almost pouring out of it. The first few chapters are pretty jam-packed with information and action, which was a bit full on but I didn’t mind it so much because it cooled down soon. I do love a good book that can pick me up right away. I spent most of my night reading it and picked it right back up when I woke up to finish it off which isn’t something I do often. I thought the idea for the story was great, I really liked the idea of having such a perfect society (literally immaculate) and adding in a few people who are really just normal people (the outcasts) but mess up the whole rhythm of everyone else (the perfections). I couldn’t have executed the idea better but there were a few things in my mind like that I would’ve liked a bit more on how the world came to be like this seeing as it is set a good 67 years in the future. Also, I would’ve liked to know a bit more about Dante and all the other outcasts relationships with the perfections in their lives like their parents or their peers. As you can probably tell, I didn’t love that the books focus was very much on finding Kiara but I mean it’s just my personal preference to know more about the history of it. The way the outcasts are treated reminded me a lot of Divergent and how the people who were Divergent were treated all because they couldn’t conform and were different just like the outcasts. It also reminded me of the Mortality Doctrine series by James Dashner, I can’t really put my finger on what exactly it is but it just made me think of it. It also reminded me of the Lorax because of how perfect and clean everything is except these people have plants. All the sanitation and purifying just made me think of it. So you might be able to call it a cross between Divergent and the Mortality Doctrine series and the Lorax but I don’t think that would be entirely truthful because I thought the story was very original even when some aspects reminded me of others. All in all, I think if you enjoy what I’d almost call alternate reality stories then you might just like this one a lot. I found it moved fast which some might like and others might not but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go. I don’t think the story will really stick with me, it won’t be something I think about at random moments during my day. I enjoyed it, would I read it again? Maybe not but while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t quite my thing and usually you’d have to write a damn good book to get me to read it again (cough cough Harry Potter). Would I read another book by the author? If I could get my hands on it, sure, why not? Defective was a quality story, not my cup of tea but I still enjoyed it and I liked that even though it’s not the kind of story I usually pick up I still really enjoyed reading it and even managed get through it in under a day. I say, B. Austin, give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve done a good job. *Side note, I loved the character Valentin

Posting Schedule

Saturdays - Reviews
Mondays - Other
Wednesdays - Brooklyns bookish chatter

So, I'll give you just a quick run down of what each post type is and what to expect. I hope to eventually categorise these posts so if you're only wanting to look at reviews, you can find them. For now though, I'll just add it to the quickly growing list of things to do.

Reviews are obvious and self explanatory. They're my thoughts and opinions on books that I've read. I typically like to write one after each book I read because I like to get all my thoughts out. My reviews aren't always the most reliable source if you're deciding on a book but I hope they're in the slightest bit helpful to you. I also just like being able to find the thoughts I've had on books since there's so many of to read and so little time to be constantly rereading so it's a nice way to have my thoughts all together. Also, if you want to see how my star ratings work, you can read this post What do my star ratings mean?

Other is just all the posts inbetween so maybe a book inspired playlist or an ideal book to movie adaption and what not. It's basically whatever book inspired I've made that week, it could be anything. Maybe one day when I gather enough posts I can subcategorise those as well but for now I do not have enough posts for it to be worth the effort. I think Mondays will be fun because it could be anything whatever I'm inspired by that week.

Brooklyns bookish chatter is just my time to just chat about whatever book related thing has taken me by storm. Maybe it will be a character or a plot line or a book itself although, that would be rare since that's more like a review. Maybe a particular thing in a book will stand out to me and I will feel as though it needs it's own post. Some chatter posts will be more structured than others. Some might actually be inspired by something and some will just be ramblings. It's hard to tell you exactly what to expect but I know chatter type posts aren't every ones cup of tea so if you don't like it just ignore Wednesdays, come to my blog on a different day.

I'm trying to be flexible with my posts so that there can be something that caters to a more broad audience but the biggest thing about blogging for me, is of course about me and what I want to post as it is my personal space. With my blog posts, I intend to inspire conversation and discussion. I hope to provoke thoughts and whatnot. Please feel welcome to comment on posts, I don't bite and I'm sure no one else would either. Whatever I feel is inappropriate will be reported and deleted though, there are some things I won't tolerate. I want to keep this a positive place.

What do my star ratings mean?

I thought I'd just give you a quick overview of what my star ratings mean. Although they can fluctuate, I'll try to keep it as up to date as I can. I decided to post this just in time for posting my first review on my actual blog.


One star means I didn't like it and usually its because of a lot of things. The plot, the characters, the dialogue. It means that the book didn't flow and that it was just a hot mess. I don't often give books only one star.


Two stars mean that again, I didn't like it but there were a few positives and I can tell the author had potential, they just didn't execute it in the right way. Again two starts is an uncommon thing.


Three stars means it was average, it didn't blow me away. It has both its pros and cons, potential is probably there and in some cases I'll rate a book three stars because it just wasn't my cup of tea. Three stars isn't a negative thing, three stars can have a lot more to do with my personal preference a lot of the time.

Four stars (at this point I could no long find the matching stars which annoys me greatly aesthetically) means that this was a good book, a solidly good book that I probably will read again and I would recommend it.
 
Five stars (ahh, the nice stars are back) five stars means this book really blew me away. It was an excellent book and I would gladly tell everyone every where to read it. Five stars is a rare thing for me but when I rate a book 5 stars you better believe, I absolutely love it.

I often give books a rating in between stars which as you can probably work out means it's not good enough to be give that extra .5 but its also not bad enough to go down that extra .5. So, there you go, a better insight to my reviews and rating. Hope this clears things up!

Outsiders by Tammy Ferebee

4.5 Stars

"But I'm beginning to realise that we've connected because whatever I am, she is too."

I loved this! It was a perfect combination of everything I love in YA. It had romance (I am a giant sop when it comes to romance), it had action, it had originality plus an awesome, kick ass main character.

I loved Jaylen, I think she is the perfect character for this book. She's strong, well spoken and has an 'I don't need a man' attitude, that is of course until Michael comes along. I feel like I can relate to Jaylen on many levels which made me feel like I could connect to the book a lot better. She one of the best characters I've read about in a while.

It was a bit insta-love but the insta-love was explained and it wasn't your typical 'omg he's so hot and funny, I love him' no, it was valid and well executed. I liked the relationship between Michael and Jaylen, it reminded me a lot of the sort of relationship Tris and Tobias had in the Divergent series in the way that their love and connection was very deep and they both go very out of their way to protect the other. I liked that Michael and Jaylen still had the typical teenager love all while facing the sorts of things they were facing, they still went to prom, had a blow out over something silly, and all the other typical things, it felt more real to me that way.

I loved the plot, its very original or at least I haven't read anything like it before. It was perfectly captivating and the build up was great. Also, they ending was fantastic, I love the vague endings that leave you wanting more and that it certainly did although I love Jaylen so much I'd probably read about her getting groceries.

I don't have any negatives worth mentioning really, I'm just filled with positives about this book. I can't wait for the next Outsiders book. If you love YA, then this is a must read for you. I will be raving to my friends about this one for sure. I truly wish this author and this story success.

Have you read Outsiders? Let me know your thoughts!

Introducing me!

Hi!
My names Brooklyn, I'm living in Australia and I love to read. I hope to create a bit of a name for myself for book reviews, I'm currently on goodreads as brooklynsippingacupoftea but I would like to further myself. I've only very recently started reviewing since I got a new laptop which is much easier to review on.

I'm obviously not an English major so I'd appreciate if you could reach out to my privately if you have any tips for my writing but hey, every ones got to start somewhere so here I am. I won't enclose my age or any other personal details for now but the time may well come.

On this blog, I will post not only book reviews but my bookish thoughts as well. I hope this is a blog everyone can come to enjoy, I know I enjoy reading others thoughts. I plan to post every Saturday, I like schedule and routine so every Saturday it will be. If you're like me and like routine and schedule then don't fear because I do promise to have a post up each and every Saturday since I will be writing them before hand and scheduling them in to post so I will be organised on that front.

Those are the basics, so enjoy!