Why I'm in Love with Audiobooks

Hey guys, so today I was just thinking in sharing with you my love for the audiobooks which is something really recent for me - I only just started listening to them on October but since them I can't get enough of them! So these are the reasons why I love them so much (and my way to make you want to try one):

5. Time going to and from college now is spend reading: I have to tell you all, when I started college I struggled with having to slow down the pace of my reading 'cause so many things to study! I had tried to carry a physical book with me but it was not as comfortable and I kept getting distracted while reading on the bus so when I tried an audiobook and successfully listened without getting lost on the book through my way to college and home I had a winner.

4. It's so good to listen to someone tell you a story: Guys, guys, you have to hear me on this one. Remember those days where you get home from school/college/work and your brain is just so tired that you can't even think on doing any more tasks that require brain function like reading? Well, with audiobooks I just found out that I can still read while brain dead if someone is reading it to me! Now is like, I can study anatomy for hours and them when I want to relax I just put my headphones on and get some chill time with my book. (this sounded so much like a commercial what even)

3. I can multitask while listening: Okay, so basically my multitask is playing The Sims 4 (since  I can't do much more than play The Sims while listening 'cause I need to pay some attention to what I'm reading ya know) but who cares, it's so easy when I don't have to decide if I want to read or play The Sims all night 'CAUSE I CAN DO BOTH! 

2. I can get to those backlist books that I've been meaning to read for ages and complete series that I'm not all that head over heels: most of the audiobooks that I've been listening aren't books that I'm like super excited about or aren't at the top of my priority list, like I was always curious about Simone Elkeles books but wasn't in any soon plan for me to read but when I got an adiobook for it I listened to it right away. Or like, The selection series, which I had already read the first two books and needed to read the third one to finish it (until a forth one was announced, argh) but wasn't exactly looking forward for the experience, so I found the use of a audiobook perfect for pass me through it. 

1. It makes so much easier to achieve my readings goals/TBR's: I have to tell ya' it's way easier to keep me on my TBR if some of the books are audiobooks, I usually can ignore my mood and just go with the narration. It also makes my reading in general being... Bigger, like last month I read 10 books, and 4 of these were audiobooks which I would probable not get around to read if wasn't for the practical way of these form of reading. 

So yeah, just to make myself clear I FREAKING AM IN LOVE WITH AUDIOBOOKS, they're so practical and make me feel so efficient with my reading schedule - this month I'm trying some bigger audios and let's see how it will go. Stay tuned to some audiobook reviews and I hope you soon give yourself the pleasure of trying one & feel good about your decision as I do. 

DNF Round #1

Hey guys, so over the course of my readings I always end up with some DNF books and some of them are from publishers and I never know what to do with it, so I though in doing a post about these books. So from time to time I'll gatter the last books that I DNFed and will talk a little about them, it may help you to pick them up or decide to not pick up.

Me Since You by Laura Wiess
Published by MTV Books on February 18, 2014
Received from Publisher 
Read until 51 percent

This book was probably the hardest to put down because I started really liking it, since the start the relationship between Rowan and her father was touching and I really liked the friendship-possible-romance between her and Eli but this book hit a point where it was so depressing that it became painful to read it and I could only read in small doses - until I couldn't take anymore.

I think readers who like books about grief and depression will love this one since is extremely touching but be aware that is very realistic and doesn't take short cuts when showing the pain of Rowan situation.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson 
Published by Dial Books on September 16, 2014
Received from Publisher
Read until Chapter 2 

I have always heard amazing things from Jandy Nelson's first book "The Sky is Everywhere" and when I got a chance to read this early I couldn't say no, but unfortunately this didn't worked out for me. The only reason for me to put this down was the writing, I'm usually all aboard for purple prose but I just couldn't, it was way too much for my tastes and it kind of ruined the narrative and made me not get into the book.

Probably readers who already liked Nelson's debut novel will enjoy this one too, also people who like artistic/lyrical writing and purple prose.

Winterspell by Claire Legrand
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers on September 30, 2014
Received from Publisher
Read until 30 percent

I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK! The pretty cover! The retelling element! A fantasy book with kick ass heroine! But yeah it didn't worked for me. At first it was really slow, but I though sometimes fantasy books are like that you know? Them we have some action scene where the villain of sorts is so freaking weird and the things that are happening I was just like "WTF". Them we have a statue that came to live and it's hinted that will be a love story between THE CENTURIES OLD STATUE AND SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD CLARA (who was already in love with the statue before the statue came to life, just...) but I put it down when there was happening some chasing, that was supposed to be life or death kind of scene, and I was just bored the hell out of me and waiting for it to be over.

I don't really know to who recommend this one because I really disliked its beginning, so I'll leave you to some positive reviews so you can decide for yourself: x, x & x.

A Thousand Pieces of You - Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
Series: Firebird #1
Published by HarperTeen on November 4, 2014
Pages: 368
Genres: Science Fiction, Parallel Universes, Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

I really wanted to like A Thousand Pieces of You with a furious passion mostly because it would give a good reason to purchase it on a pretty hardcover edition and them I would stare at it all day (at least on weekends!) but, despite having a lot to go for, the overall feeling of this book is just... Flat. And forgettable.

We start the story with on a futuristic London and the plot is already happening, Marguerite is already hunting down her father's killer, Paul, with the help of Theo and this helped me keep reading because I really wanted to know what the hell was happening but at soon we start to have some flashbacks, which is how we learn what really happened to Marguerite's father and her connection with both boys but, as usually, this made me not really care about the characters? It's just a more personal thing, but I really am not a flashback kind of person (my least favorites episodes of The Originals are the ones with viking's flashbacks), they just take some of the feelings for me. It wouldn't have been a big thing overall if I didn't had other problems with it, but I had.

When we get to the second parallel universe, which is basically a Russia that stopped on the 20th century and it just seemed like the plot was totally forgotten there! In my view Marguerite was supposed to be hunting down her father's killer/discovering his motives/finding out the truth basically but them (conveniently) she stays stuck in this dimension where there is zero technology and we are supposed to be having some major ship feels with her and one of the boys but I just didn't care for either of these characters so it was really hard for me to care about their across-universes/bound-to-be romance. Also I think we have a love triangle, but it's so weak like seriously, I think Jacob had more chances over Edward than this love triangle (but by the end I think we kind of have a different love triangle between different dimensions kind of thing, right?).

Anyway, to top my lack of feels for all the characters there is also the lack of actually sci-fi on this book, we need to have a lot of suspension of disbelief to actually believe on this whole firebird thing. In resume I'm not sure what was really the plot of this book (the romance? the father thing?), the characters felt one dimensional and there wasn't actually much sci-fi for a parallel universe kind of book.

Recommended to: people who like romance with parallel universes, people who want romance and love the kind of star crossed lovers that are meant to be, people who want their sci-fi heavily focus on romance.

October Wrap Up

Hey guys! October is already over and Halloween already passed and all the candies are missing (oops), can you believe it? 'Cause I don't, each month passes quicker than the other, next month promises to be crazier than ever with finals and them BOM when I see it will be my bday and them xmas and them 2015. Okay, but we are here for wrap up, sorry got distracted.

This month I read 10 books (!) which is an improvement from September when I only read 5 books, actually it was the best reading month since I started college so I'm happy! A great thing that helped me to achieve this number was the "discovery" of audiobooks (I put discovery between quotation marks because of course I knew they existed just never had tried) - and later this week, or month, I will talk all about my new obsession and love for them.

About this TBR that I made at the beginning of the month, well I didn't read two of the books there BUT I did read the other four, which for me is super win on TBR's (seriously I had never followed a TBR so much!). SOOOOOOO next month I'll try again, since I'm trying to finish my review books until my vacation starts these books are all related to that: These Broken Stars & This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner, The Bone Season & The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon, also The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - now this is very daring since I read only 3 ebooks last month and all of these are ebooks but I'm gonna try and the ones that I don't get to I'll read on November.

The books that I read (with links to reviews or Goodreads page):
1. Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi
2. Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi I, by Tom Veitch
3. Wild Cards, by Simone Elkeles
4. Stitching Snow, by R.C.Lewis
5. The Spectacular Now, by Tim Tharp
6. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
7. The One, by Kiera Cass (I'm thinking on doing a series review on this one)
8. Blue Lily, Lily Blue, by Maggie Stiefvater (and on this one too)
9. Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
10. For Real, by Alison Cherry (review up on release date)

Sorry for this wrap up be so practical and lame, I'm working on how to make this blog more me and college and life isn't helping. So, how was your reading this last month? Read any similar books?

Wonder - R.J. Palacio

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Published by Knopf on February 14, 2012
Pages: 313
Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age
Format: Hardback
Source: Purchased

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I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.


Wonder quickly become of my favorite reads, not only of this year but of all times and it’s easy to see why. The narrative of this story can be kind of childish for some people since it’s very straight forward, doesn’t make very turns to make things more pretty and also this story has a lot of show and not tell which usually bothers the hell out of me, but I only noticed it 20% into the book! This really shows how effective this narrative was in make me get into the story and connect with these characters and their feelings.

About the characters, it was a surprise to me when I looked inside the book and saw there was different POV’s and at first I thought it would make hard to get to know anyone but really it wasn’t, like I said the narrative is very simple making the feelings and personalities of each of this narrators really get out of the pages – all of them are so realistic and still so different. I think the narrative I most connect with was Via’s, she really got me teared up at so much times.

Also, this book is a lot more positive than I first expected, I mean I knew that it would end on a lighter tone but still I’m a big crier so expected to have some sobbing moments but no, I cried but always just a little bit – the narrative often goes from sad to lighter and funny. What made these turns so easy were the very short chapters, not making them weird turns.

 Anyway, I loved this book with all my soul, it carries an amazing message about bullying to kids, but I think adults/young adults also can get great things from this book. It’s an easy read, that really makes you think about people and the world around you and how you perceive it.

Recommended to: everyone really, it’s one of these books that I just want to push on everyone because I think every single people can take a message from it.

Atlantia - Ally Condie

Atlantia by Ally Condie 
Published by Dutton Children's on October 28, 2014 
Pages: 368
Genres: Dystopia, Fantasy, Mermaids
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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Can you hear Atlantia breathing?

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

Characters & Relationships: Despite Rio, our main character being a mermaid and having such a powerful voice she sure as hell read very... Blant. She is passing through a hard time, with her sister gone, without any family, having to hide from everyone what she really is, but still I couldn't manage to connect with the girl or fell anything for her, the secondary characters too just never felt fleshed out enough for me to care for them. I still really enjoyed the sisters relationships in this book, they're pictured as such strong bound between two people, more books should have this, unfortunately the romance front didn't hit me as strongly first because this book has so much more that could have got away without any romance but mostly because I didn't care for these characters.

World building & pace: Okay, so first let me clear out that this is a dystopian book where something happened with the clima on the above and some selected people went to live below, but then some weird thing started to happen to the people below and some of them started to become mermaids, for some reason unknown. So if this kind of thing bothers you - things happen and are never given a good reason - just stay away from this book, for me it wasn't a major turn off, it bugged me a little but I could suspend my disbelief and keep going. But the thing that DID bothered me was the pace, oh boy this book was slow, and slow, and slow, and them BAM! everything happens in like 10% of the book and it's finished and that was it. Now, I don't mind slow books - hell, The Vanishing Season was more slow than this and it's one of my all time favorites - but it bothers me when there is things that should be happening and are not, and them pisses me off when things are rushed to make it fit on the ending, NOT PLEASED.

Recommended to: readers who want mermaids or really liked the atlantia idea when they're kids (which is why I picked this one up), readers who liked Ally Condie's other works.

Boomerang - Noelle August

Boomerang by Noelle August
Series: Boomerang #1
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks on July 8, 2014
Pages: 325
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

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The first book in a sensational New Adult trilogy from Noelle August.

Welcome to Boomerang.com, the dating site for the millennial gen with its no-fuss, no-commitments matchups, and where work is steamier than any random hook-up.

Mia Galliano is an aspiring filmmaker. Ethan Vance has just played his last game as a collegiate soccer star. They’re sharp, hungry for success, and they share a secret.

Last night, Ethan and Mia met at a bar, and, well . . . one thing led to another, which led to them waking up the next morning—together. Things turned awkward in a hurry when they found themselves sharing a post hookup taxi . . . to the same place: Boomerang headquarters.

What began as a powerful connection between them is treated to a cold shower courtesy of two major complications. First, Boomerang has a strict policy against co-worker dating. And second, they’re now competitors for only one job at the end of summer.

As their internships come to an end, will they manage to keep their eyes on the future and their hands off each other, or will the pull of attraction put them right back where they started?

So, I really liked some parts of this book but to others parts I was just kinda… Not so head over heels. Let’s talk.

What I really liked was the job aspect, Ethan and Mia got the same internship and now (after hooking up) they need to compete for the same job AND the company has a rule against relationships between co-workers – it was so much fun seeing both of them struggling against their attraction (and there was a LOT of attraction), day after day and seeing what kind of crazy things they would do/pass during this time.

But this inconvenient situation also gave room for them to really know each other which is something to love on a romance - the building up for the relationship - and I have to admit that they seem a pretty good match. They really seemed to get each other despite the little interactions they had, however they still had a few bumps on the road like any normal couple.

And despite Ethan and Mia being good together they also had different ambitions outside the romance world, which made me connect with them so much. I loved how Ethan is still struggling to know what he wants to do with his life, how he always had a plan and now isn’t so sure anymore that it’s going to work or even if is what he really wants – I just started college and always thought I would do veterinarian but now I’m not so sure anymore, and it really hit home how difficult it is to admit that to yourself, make a new plan and tell to yours parents that sacrificed so much already to make that older plan work. On the other side Mia biggest struggle is to record a documentary of her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer, that will make the world never forget of her, my grandmother also has Alzheimer so it was easy to feel Mia’s pain on losing her role model.

So despite all these good things there was still one thing that keep throwing me off the book and it was Ethan’s narrative. It felt kind of… Fake, like he would say all this swear names on his head and them Mia’s POV wouldn’t have any, it just felt like something put there because it’s a “boy thing” you know? Also, oh my god, how many times does this dude can get his dick hard?? Seriously, on the beginning of this book he only needed to see Mia to have an erection.  

Still this is the one of the best New adult books that I read and this kind of style – more of a romantic comedy and real struggle that new adult’s have, this is the kind of new adult books I’m willing to give a shot. More new adult that is focused on to the new adult peeps okay guys?

Recommended to: fans of romantic comedies, readers on looking for new adult that isn’t just sex and dark deep troubles, readers on their 20’s.