Hey everybody! It’s been a hot minute, but now that I’m home from some vacation time, I’m ready to hit the ground running and I’m back to post some new content! It’s been quite some time since I’ve written an album tag, and with all of the hype around Taylor Swift right now, I figured that that was the perfect series to start: a tag for each of her albums! (As she releases her rerecordings, I will be going back and editing my lists, so keep an eye out for those as well!)
Ella Enchanted
Gail Carsen Levine
Every once in a while, I’ll pop back to this book, and every single time, it reminds me of when I read it the first time back when I was nine. I don’t think that there’s another book that reminds me so much of my childhood, and still holds nothing but good memories.
Everlife
Gina Showalter
I read the first book of this quite some time ago, and while I really loved the premise of it, I found that I wasn’t invested into any of the characters. The whole thing was about her choosing where she wanted to go, but I didn’t like either of her options, and was left not rooting for her to choose anything. It wasn’t one that I wanted to continue picking up, even though I thought the idea behind it was top notch!
Jennifer L Armentrout
I was going to just put one series here, but as I was thinking about it, I realized that I just have to put the author in general here. I’m completely obsessed with her work, and I will buy anything she writes. I’m going slowly crazy waiting for the fourth book in the From Blood and Ash series. This woman has ruined me in all the best ways.
Leah On The Offbeat
Becky Albertali
I have never found a character that I relate to quite as much as Leah. A plus-sized, bisexual woman who is shy but strong (I also for a hot-minute wanted to learn the drums and play in a girl band…) This book just resonated with my little closeted self.
Torment
Lauren Kate
Gray is one of my favorite colors. I think it is so underrated. The simplicity and elegance is just unmatched. Scrolling through my goodreads, I realized that some of my favorite books have gray covers (Shadow and Bone, Empire of Storms), but the one that I thought was just drop-dead gorgeous was Torment by Laruen Kate. The smoky quality, the dark dress, the girls form…. what a pretty cover!
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater
When I look at the cover and read the back of this book, I immediately think that this is a book series that I would LOVE. And…it’s okay? I loved the idea of this series a little too much I think, because I couldn’t get into it. I think the cover is spectacular, and I love a few of the characters (can I have my own Gansey? I know he’s not a super fan-fave, but….I kindof love him). But the story just didn’t live up to the hype of the dust jacket for me.
The Crown of Gilded Bones
Jennifer L Armentrout
Yes, JLA is on this list twice. Is anyone surprised? Reading this book (review to come soon!) I completely lost it…multiple times. I had to start a group chat with some of my friends for sheer moral support through the many twists and turns of this book. And the ENDING? If it hadn’t been three AM I would have thrown this book against a wall (I mean, I wouldn’t have because the book is just too pretty and I need to reread it…but the sentiment remains). I ended up settling for screaming into my pillow. This one hurt.
The Nine Lives of Chloe King
Liz Braswell
When I read this series, I read the bind up of all three books. I knew that it was a series, so when I picked up the behemoth, I thought it was just the first book and was so excited to read the rest of them! But then, it ended…and I realized there were no more books for me to read. I then devoured the TV show, but it only had one season…so once again, I was without more content to this blissful world. I would give ANYTHING to have a continuation of this!
Outlander
Diana Gabaldon
I thoroughly regret starting Outlander…mainly because I love it so much. These books are so good, and so LONG!! I’m absolutely in love with them, but I’m probably going to have to lower my yearly book goal because these books are nearly three times the length of the books I normally read (the one I’m reading now is listed on Goodreads at 1,443 pages). But honestly, it’s so worth it.
Juliette and Warner
(Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi)
This was another one of those bait-and-switch ships where I read that everyone shipped Juliette with Warner and I swore to myself I wasn’t going to do that because I hated Warner… that didn’t last too long though. I absolutely love how these two balance each other, and they quickly became one of my absolute favorite ships!
Gale and Peeta
(The Hunger Games – Susanne Collins)
I was honestly kind of tired of the whole love-triangle thing. And honestly, I really thought that Katniss and Gale were too alike to work well, but since Katniss wouldn’t make up her mind, I was really hoping that the boys would make it up for her and leave her in the dust. Peeta was everything Gale needed – stability (for a while, anyway), loving, kind, would be a great stay-at-home dad. And Gale was everything Peeta needed – a protector, a provider, strong. I think they would have worked out well and saved themselves a lot of trouble over a girl who…really wasn’t worth it.
Celaena Sardothian
(Throne of Glass – Sarah J. Maas)
I almost said Poppy from FBAA, buuut…no need to bring JLA in for a third round when I value the same things in both characters! I love Celaena so much. Her love of reading, her strength, her determination, her power, her snark…I love it all! (Also, can she teach me how to be a BAMF? Because I would love some combat lessons, pretty please!)
The Shadows Between Us
Tricia Levenseller
I don’t think that this book got NEARLY the hype that it deserved! Holy cow! It was epic! The main character is such a Slytherin, and I adore her. The twists and turns of this book…I can’t even go into it without a massive spoiler warning because it was just that good! I think that Tricia gets some love in YA circles (as she should, because all of her books are quite good!) but this book was just above and beyond in quality! I can’t recommend it enough!
Sarah J. Maas
This one reminds me of the phrase that’s going around right now – “Who hurt you and why was it Sarah?” Sarah J Maas has a way of ripping your heart out over and over. She loves to make you distrust every character you love. And every character that you love that’s genuinely good…well…it doesn’t end well. Sarah has made me cry on several occasions with both happy and sad tears.
And that’s my list! I can definitely say that I have the song Picture to Burn stuck in my head now, and it’ll probably be there for the next several days. I absolutely loved creating this tag, and I hope you like it and use it too!
Happy reading!
All Booked Up At The Moment 