Enoch and the Stars Above

Title: Enoch and the Stars Above

Author: Rich Paz

First Published: July 1st 2016

Series: Stand alone

Genre: YA Fiction, Sci-Fi

Available As: ebook

Pages: 245

My Copy: ebook (PDF) 

My Overall Rating: 7.5/10

Goodreads Summary

How will it all end? It was a night that would change Enoch´s life forever. It was a night like many others, yet strange and unusual, a star-filled sky put together by uncertainty, yet in a breath of magic, Enoch Sotheby is reborn again as he is chosen for a mission to save humanity as an interstellar care-taker lands in his backyard. He is visited by a member of the Arcs, Uriel, who comes to warn of his evil android counterparts whose intent is to annihilate the Earth and its surrounding quadrant. Enoch is then thrust into a position of great power as he forges unlikely alliances to help save the world from its inevitable destruction. Universal reign shall never be the same again.

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Speak

Title: Speak

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

First Published: October 22nd 1999

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: YA Fiction, Contemporary

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 208

My Copy: Physical copy 

My Overall Rating: 9/10

Goodreads Summary

"Speak up for yourself--we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication. In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.

Speak was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature.

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Asking For It

Title: Asking For It

Author: Louise O'Neill

First Published: September 3rd 2015

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: YA Fiction, Contemporary

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 346

My Copy: Physical copy 

My Overall Rating: 9/10

Goodreads Summary

It's the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O'Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident. One night, there's a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can't remember what happened, she doesn't know how she got there. She doesn't know why she's in pain. But everyone else does. 

Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night. But sometimes people don't want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town's heroes...

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If I Was Your Girl

Title: If I Was Your Girl

Author: Meredith Russo 

First Published: May 3rd 2016

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: YA Fiction, Contemporary

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 288

My Copy: Physical copy 

My Overall Rating: 8/10

Goodreads Summary

Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school in Lambertville, Tennessee. Like any other girl, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret. There’s a reason why she transferred schools for her senior year, and why she’s determined not to get too close to anyone. 

And then she meets Grant Everett. Grant is unlike anyone she’s ever met—open, honest, kind—and Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself…including her past. But she’s terrified that once she tells Grant the truth, he won't be able to see past it.

Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It’s that she used to be Andrew.

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Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017

I'd like to say 2016 was a great year, but was it really? In terms of reality - no. In terms of books, 2016 was great. I read so many interesting (and not-so-interesting) books this year, and I wanted to put it into visuals for everyone. I did this last year, but seeing Cait's post made me remember to do it again!

Books by Rating

From this chart, I can tell that I am quite generous in rating. I don't use stars on my blog, but I do on Goodreads. Should I switch to stars? Maybe I will, but in 2017.

Books by Genre

Which genre is your favourite? I was meaning to read to read more mystery and horror this year, but I got too stuck on Fantasy, as usual. Contemporary just pops up here and there, I don't go actively looking for this genre. Haha, yeah :)

Top 10 Books of 2016

This year has been a good year, like I said already. So here are my 10 favourites - but in no particular order!

1. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
2. Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
3. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
4. Half Lost by Sally Green
5. The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
6. Rebel of the Sands by Alywn Hamilton
7. Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
8. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
9. The Midnight Star by Marie Lu
10. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

All these books were amazing! Have you read any of these ones? All of them? What do you think about them?

Top 4 Disappointments of 2016

Of course, not all books will be good, and here are some of the books I've read this year that have been either a) a pain or b) boring or c) crushed my hopes or d) all of the above. Let's go!

1. Silas Marner by George Eliot
2. Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
3. Doll Bones by Holly Black
4. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (because I expected so much more from her!)

Most Anticipated Books of 2017

Moving on to the happy category! 2017 - new books, new series, sequels, all that good stuff. So, which great books are coming our way?

1. A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3) by Sarah J. Maas
2. King's Cage (Red Queen #3) by Victoria Aveyard
3. Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare
4. A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3) by V.E. Schwab
5. Caravel (Caravel #1) by Stephanie Garber
6. The Dark Prophecy (Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan

And that's all for today! I hope you all enjoy yourselves today and get ready for 2017! Enjoy the last of 2016 :)

Gemina

Title: Gemina

Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 

First Published: October 18th 2016

Series: The Illuminae Files #2

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 608

My Copy: Physical copy 

My Overall Rating: 9/10

Goodreads Summary

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault. 

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station's wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They've totally got this. They hope.

Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Title: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Author: Becky Albertalli

First Published: April 7th, 2015

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: YA Fiction, Contemporary

Available As: Hardcover, paperback, ebook

Pages: 320

My Copy: Physical copy 

My Overall Rating: 8/10

Goodreads Summary

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised. 

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

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