amarisafloria

Bout of Books ended on Sunday, so I thought I'd share how my first read-a-thon went. I ended up reading absolutely nothing on the last two days because I had to write my last paper for school, but I'm pretty happy with how I did. I read a total of 785 pages and completed three books!


The next Bout of Books will be in the middle of August and I'll most likely be participating because it'll still be summer break for me. If you did Bout of Books, how was your experience?

Panic was action-packed, CRAZY, and quite thrilling. I'm pretty sure my heart flew out of my chest for these people every time they were faced with a new challenge.

Although I am a total chicken when it comes to doing things that scare me (I can't even get my ears pierced), I thought the reasons each character had for playing Panic made sense and was believable. Yes, they're doing crazy things that could get them killed, but $67,000 is a lot of money. It slightly reminded me of Fear Factor, but a more intense version.

One of the things I did not like about this book was the vagueness in Oliver's writing. I didn't feel like there were enough details about what characters were doing, thinking, etc. The majority of this book is focused on the plot instead of character development, and I think that's why I didn't enjoy it as much I wanted to.

Hi guys, I'm finally on summer break now! Which means more book reviews and posts :) I just wanted to quickly share a new video I filmed (yes, another book haul!) a couple of days ago. I'm sure you can tell I won't be buying more books any time soon :p

So ... I didn't do much reading on Day 4. I only got through 75 pages (which isn't a bad thing) but I was hoping to finish this on Thursday night so I could tackle more of my TBR. But I was feeling quite lazy, so there's that.

This book discusses a really interesting concept. Mia, the main character, has to make a decision to continue or leave her life after a car accident. I have some mixed feelings about If I Stay, but overall I thought it was a good read. I watched the trailer right after and had mixed feelings about that as well. It was as emotional as I thought it would be, but I didn't like how it was so focused on her relationship with Adam, her boyfriend. It made it seem like she was choosing life or death based solely on her feelings for him alone, but the book is not like that. I don't want to spoil the book/movie for those of you who haven't read it yet, so I'll stop before I get too descriptive!

There are only two days left until Bout of Books is over, so hopefully I can get through two more books! (But now that I think about it, I can probably only read one more because I am a little behind on my schoolwork, oops. You know when you only have one more final to take, but it's a little far in the future and it already feels like summer so you can't help but do dumb things to waste time? Yeah ...)

In true Amaris fashion, I did not pick a book off my TBR list. I know, I know ... but I couldn't resist starting Open Road Summer by Emery Lord once I received it in the mail!

I wasn't home until the evening, so I started this with two hours to spare before Day 3. I finished it on Day 3 in the afternoon, and I really really loved it. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good contemporary romance!

I told Emery Lord how brilliant her book is and she tweeted me back saying that she thought I had a pretty name! (*cue fangirling*) It would be so cool if she used my name in one of her books—I've never seen my name in a book before.


LOOK, a book actually off my TBR! I'm making really good progress, as you guys can tell :p

I started If I Stay by Gayle Forman a couple of hours ago (around 7) but I didn't get very far because I decided to take a nap. I've been meaning to read it for a while because the movie is coming out at the end of August, so I borrowed it from the library. I haven't watched the movie trailer because I'm afraid I'll ruin it parts of it for myself, but I already know that Chloe Grace Moretz is playing Mia, the main character.

Side note: I'm not really feelin' this cover. I liked the original one a lot more, but maybe I'll change my mind after I read it. What do you guys think about it? Or better question—what do you think about cover changes in general?

Since I started The Here and Now by Ann Brashares late Saturday night, I decided to continue on with it. Despite the 3.31 rating on Goodreads, I really enjoyed this book and am glad that I picked it up from the library. The pacing was perfect, in my opinion, and everything written in the story was done to keep it moving.

I'm hoping to film a video on my thoughts for all the books I read during Bout of Books (and if I don't, there will be a post!) But for now, I'd recommend The Here and Now for anyone :)

I wasn't planning on participating in the first chat, but I was on Twitter as it was about to start so I stayed :) The #boutofbooks discussion page was going crazy—everyone was talking to everyone and it was a bit hard to keep up because tweets were flowing in by the second. The next one will be Wednesday at 6 pm (PST), so join us!

Hi everyone! I know I haven't been around for quite some time — I've been swamped with schoolwork. Thankfully, I only have one more week of school (which means lots of books reviews coming!) Thanks for continuing to stick by me :)

I wanted to quickly mention a read-a-thon I'll be semi-participating in next week — the Bout of Books 10.0! It begins on Monday, May 12 and goes until Sunday, May 18. Even though I have three finals on Tuesday and a paper due the Monday after, I should be okay with spending a little extra time to read. (What is studying, anyway? :p)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I will be starting the read-a-thon on Wednesday since Monday and Tuesday are quite the busy days. My only goal for this read-a-thon is to read five books, one for each day (Wednesday - Sunday). I borrowed a couple of books from my school library, so here are the ones I'll be choosing from:

I'll be blogging my progress every day (hopefully), so check back here on Wednesday/Thursday for my first update!