The Month of August and New Experiences ~ A Wrap-Up

Hello again my friends!
It's time for another end-of-the-month-blog-post, also known as Monthly Wrap-Ups! I hope you all had an awesome month, are you ready for September?

I personally am going to have lots of stuff going on in September, so I don't know how much reading I'll be able to get done. (Definitely not as much as I have been so far.)

But anyways, time to share the experiences I had this month!





~ My YouTube Channel ~

For those who do not know, I am a BookTuber as well as a BookBlogger! So here are the videos that I uploaded this month!

I had a lot of Book Tags that I've been wanting to do forever- but I just never got around to doing them...so this month I did as many as I could without overwhelming anyone!! :D


My Epic August TBR!!

The Courtship Book Tag

Smoke In The Sun + Currently Reading

COFFEE Book Tag

No Disclaimer Book Tag

The A-Z Book Tag


(I also Wrap-Up and TBR for August and September up!)






~ Any Baking Recently? ~

I have a few new baking recipes I tried! (The links will take you to the recipe as they are not mine!)


Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Frosted Pumpkin Cinnamon Cookies (Instead of nutmeg, I used cinnamon again.)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cherries! (This one actually was a random concoction I made. Just make regular cupcakes and put a cherry in and bake! I used jarred cherries that already had the stems taken out.)





~ Weather + Books I Got This Month ~

 What was strange about this month's weather, was that even if it was melting hot we had storms and rain most of the time. But at least it wasn't dry heat *shudders*, I've had enough of that.
I hope none of you have gotten too hot from this summer, I know in some places you can get very sick from the heat :(


What books did I buy this month?


Outpost by Ann Aguirre

The Poison Apples by Lily Archer

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife by Linda Berdoll 

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

Escape From Asylum by Madeleine Roux

The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

Crave by Melissa Darnell

Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst

The Naturals by Jennifer lynn Barnes

Bran Hambric: The Specter Key by Kaleb Nation 

The Diabolic by S. J. Kincaid

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (You have no idea how happy I am right now that I finally bought this!!!)





~ Blogger Friends + Shoutouts! ~

Here's a list of my blogger friends, feel free to check them out! :)



Elle @ Keep On Reading

A. J. @ Read All The Things!

Eve @ Tea, Chocolate and Books

Abby @ Abby's Reading Corner

paperbackprincess @ Paperback Princess

Lindsi @ Do You Dog-Ear?

Andrea @ Andrea's Bookish Thoughts

Amber @ Books of Amber

Josie Marie @ Bibliophile Books

Sophia @ Bookwyrming Thoughts

Amanda @ Devouring Books



SHOUTOUTS!

Desara @ D. Books and Reviews for nominating me for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

Tessa @ Crazy 4 YA for also nominating me for the Blogger Award!

Abigail @ What Makes A Good Book for tagging me in her Back To School Book Tag! (which I will do as soon as I can!)





~ The Writing Life ~

This month I have been going crazy editing, receiving feedback from my Beta Readers, and revising the last half of my novel- which I have not finished doing yet! I still have more to revise, edit, and more feedback to expect...

Last month was the Cover Reveal for my scifi novel, so not too many updates on it since then... (Aside from it's tearing me to pieces to tear it apart.)

Sad news! I have a lot going on right now, and will continue to have a lot going on for awhile. So I will not be able to read or write as much as I have been so far :(
But I will still be writing when I can!

I have found three amazing Beta Readers that have helped tremindously, and I am so happy to be wokring with them! I'm also helping give feedback on one of my friend/Beta Reader's novel too :)

So I'd like to wish good luck to all of my fellow writers as well!!





~Anime Talk ~

I finished watching Death Note (and was thoroughly creeped out), and also started The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (Which I made it to episode 15 of, before I wanted to watch something else).
I started Overlord, though I am also slowly (slowly) finishing Soul Eater.

NOTE: I finally got my hands on a Soul Eater poster! (technically a scroll though...)






~  Books I Read This Month ~

[3 stars]

I've finally started the Yona of the Dawn Manga!!

[4 stars] Book Talk here.

I did a video on YouTube instead of a blog post!

[3 stars]

[3.5 stars] Book review

I recieved a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

[4 stars!] Book review here

[5 stars] Review Coming Soon!

[4 stars]













I had lots of new experiences this past month, not all were very good though. There was someone that was going to give me feedback on my novel and...lets just say I'm paranoid about them taking my work now.

But now I have some awesome friends to Beta Read and give me good feedback on my work. And those of you who are Beta Reading for me and are reading this, I can assure you you're not the person I was paranoid about.

I am hoping to go to college next year with my brother, so I have a lot of things to get done before then. Besides that, I also am now working two jobs (though one is volunteering).
So busy schedules and lots of new experiences describes my past month :)



How about you guys? What were your New Experiences? What did you guys read this past month, and how was your past month?



Thanks for reading and all you guys support!!
~Noel

P. S.   My TBR for September will be in my Wrap-Up video on my YouTube channel.

The World of Solace | A Series Talk

Real quick, I also have a YouTube Book Talk here. (And don't worry there won't be any spoilers!)


A long time ago I fell in love with a certain middle grade book, and I waited what felt like forever for a sequel. 
However, when another book did come out- it wasn't a sequel per se.
It treated the first book like a prequel, it had different main characters and took place in a different spot in the same world- with only years apart. 

And then another book recently came out that did the exact same thing. It is book three in the series technically, but it treated the other books like prequels. 

Now I do suggest reading the books in order, because the plot of the second and third book depend on some things that happen and are mentioned in the one previous to it.


So, let's talk about the World of Solace series!  It is a Middle Grade, Steampunk, fantasy series!

Title: The Mark of the Dragonfly

Book: #1

Author: Jaleigh Johnson


Summary:  

  Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields. 
  The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. 

Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home. The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible. 

Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.


 I reread this book I don't know how many times, but I had to buy it because I love it so so much. I'm still hopeful that these characters are mentioned again and seen at some point in the series.


[My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

Title: The Secrets of Solace

Book: #2

Author: Jaleigh Johnson


Summary:  
 
Lina Winterbock lives in the mountain strongholds of Solace. She’s an apprentice to the archivists, the wise men and women whose lives are dedicated to cataloging, studying, and preserving the objects that mysteriously fall from the sky in the scrap towns.
  
  Lina should be spending her days with books, but the Iron War has changed everything. The strongholds are now a refuge, and the people Lina once counted on no longer have time for her, so she spends her days exploring the hidden tunnels and passages of her home. The strongholds are vast and old, with twisting paths, forgotten rooms, and collapsed chambers, some of them containing objects that have been lost and forgotten even by the archivists.
   
 And in one of the forgotten chambers, Lina discovers a secret.
    Hidden deep in a cavern is a half-buried airship like nothing she has ever seen before. She’s determined to dig it out and restore it. But Lina needs help, and she doesn’t know anyone she can trust with her secret.
 
    Then she meets Ozben, a mysterious boy who has a secret of his own—a secret that’s so dangerous it could change the course of the Iron War and the world of Solace forever.



 I was so prepared to not like this book at all because I wouldn't get to see my beloved characters from the first book- but the author did so well at making me want to explore more of the world and fall in love with these new characters!


[My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐] 3.5 stars

Title: The Quest to the Uncharted Lands

Book: #3

Author: Jaleigh Johnson



Summary: 
Stella Glass dreams of exploring worlds beyond her home of Solace, but when her famous parents are sent on a historic mission to the Uncharted Lands, it's simply too dangerous for her to join them. By order of the king, she is left behind.

Missing out on the excitement is one thing, but Stella is devastated at the thought of her parents flying into the unknown. So she takes matters into her own hands. Instead of staying with family as planned, she steals away and--right before takeoff--sneaks aboard the airship.

But Stella isn't the only stowaway. In the cargo bay is a boy who is also desperate to get to the Uncharted Lands. And someone else who's determined to keep the ship from making it there at all. . . .



 Jaleigh Johnson definitely does well at making you fall inlove with any of her characters and want to explore everything she introduces or even hints at in her books. 
It's good that each book covers a different part of the world.


[My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐] 4 stars




Have you heard of this series, or any of the books? They're amazing!!


Thanks for reading!!
~Books with Noel

Scythe by Neal Shusterman | Review + Q & A

Hello lovely peoples!
I have a book review to share with you, and at the bottom (after the review) will be a little Q & A section. Because my friend Desara also nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award, and I feel bad about not answering her questions- because I'd already done the tag when my friend Tessa nominated me. (That was a mouthfull, Lol.)


So book review first!

*         *         *        *         *
 

Scythe by Neal Shusterman!!



Synopsis: Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

                                          *        *        *         *        *


This book has had SO MUCH hype this past year- that I honestly didn't even want to bother reading it. And yet I did. And I loved it.

I don't like to admit that I was wrong- so I'll be admitting to nothing in this post aside from the fact that though it was violent, it was amazing and overwhelmingly unique.


I tried to guess the plot twists and what would happen next- and I only successfully guessed two (which were the only obvious ones). The story was amazing- and the writing was flawless! The characters were different and each had their own struggles but- ugh, the developments!! (00)

Don't even get me started on the world! Amazingly built and imagined by the author- with so much more I want to discover about it. I was so interested by everything the author introduced, and I litereallyhung on every word.

The romance was not mushy-gushy, it was gradual and more funny and heart-wrenching than anything else. I was very impressed!


So if I hadn't wanted to read this book, then why did I even try it?
Because I'm a sucker that listens to other bookworms when I finally meet one in real life and they tell me how this book made them curl up in a ball on the ground because of the ending. (I knew it was prefect for me when she said that, btw.)

And I believe book three is coming out soon? I know Thunderhead (Book #2) is already out...but I was pretty sure I heard about a book 3 somewhere....


[My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐]




Now for the Q & A (Desara's questions)!

1. Favorite show that is not Anime?

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir! I know it's technically a kids show...but it's so freaking good!

2. What are you currently reading?

Renegades by Marissa Meyer!

3. What is your choice of career for the future?

An author!

4. Favorite sport?

Fencing (yes, the French sport where you fight with swords.)

5. Favorite flavor of gum?

Mint! Mint 4 Life <3 Lol

6. Birthday?

 I will not say exactly when my birthday is or how old I am, but my B-day is around Christmas time!

Thank you guys for reading! Have you read Scythe yet? What did you think? Please let me know!!

~Books with Noel :)

Sunshine Blogger Award

FIRST: I am going insane y'all!! (Not literally, though people have been known to question my sanity.) I have a ton going on in my personal life- which has affected my writing time recently :(
So, my book will definitely not be ready for selfpublishing this year- but hopefully next year!! (I'm so hopeful right now...)

But you guys can expect a lot of Booktube videos on my channel this month (they needed to be done) and some book reviews I meant to do awhile ago on here- but didn't \0/.



ONTO THE BLOG POST!!~

My awesome friend Tessa nominated me for another blogger award! (Am I the only one that didn't know there were several?)
Please check out her blog here! She's an amazing friend that I've found through the bookblogging community!

But doesn't ''sunshine'' fit Summer so well? (Even though it's really close to fall.)



~ Rules ~

• Thank the blogger who nominated you by linking their blog.

• Answer the questions.

• Nominate 11 blogs with 11 questions.

• List the rules as well as display the Sunshine Award Logo on your post.

~ Le Questions (Tessa's in case you missed that part) ~


1. What is your biggest piece of advice you would give to new bloggers?

Be yourself and honest, that's the best success! :)

2. To spread the sunshine love, who are three bloggers you admire?

I honestly admire things about everyone, so this one is a bit hard... My friend Tessa's generosity, my friend Elle's honesty, and my friend Desara's creativity are the ones I'll have to go with!

3. If you were stuck on a deserted island with three fictional characters, who would they be and why?

Percy freaking Jackson, Keefe Sencen (he makes everything goofy and interesting!), and Scarlet Benoit.

4. What was the first book that really got you into reading?

Honestly- The Hunger Games. I've loved reading ever since!

5. What is your favorite genre?

 Everything I can get my hands on. Does that count as a genre?

6. What are some of your favorite songs? (This question is purely selfish--I need to update my playlist.)

 Something Just Like This - Coldplay and the Chainsmokers

 Ride - TWENTY ONE Pilots

Monster - Skillet

Today Was A Fairytale - Taylor Swift

7. If you could make everyone in the world read a single book, which one would it be and why?

The Bible.

8. Who is one of your auto-buy authors that you always buy books from?

Rick Riordan, Marissa Meyer, Shannon Messenger... all I can think of right now!

9. What is your favorite dessert? (Yes, I was hungry when I wrote this.)

KEY LIME PIE WITH GRAHMCRACKER CRUST!!!! <3<3<3

10. What plans do you have for your blog?

Plans? I do this for fun... I just talk about books, there is no plan Lol.

11. Shameless promo! What is your favorite blog post that you have written this year?

I love doing Wrap-Ups! My favorite was probably my July one!! Link here.






~ My Questions ~


1. What was the last book you hated?

2. What was the last character you fell head over heels for?

3. What's your favorite kind of cookie?

4. What pets do you have? (If you have one.)

5. Most recent show you watched? (TV show or movie.)

6. What blog posts are you looking foreward to doing soon?

7. What's your favorite season?





~ My Nominations! ~


Desara @ D. Books and Reviews

Elle @ Keep On Reading

Lindsi @ Do You Dog-Ear?

A. J.  @ Read All The Things!

Eve @ Tea, Chocolate and Books





Thank you guys for reading!! :)

I will have more out soon!

~Books with Noel

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Title: Three Dark Crowns

Author: Kendare Blake

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Published: September 20th, 2016

Series?: 3 books

Other books by author: Anna Dressed in Blood duology





 Synopsis: When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.




First I had so many ''feelings'' after reading this book, that I'm going to be doing lots of spoilers throughout this book review- so be warned! 
I just don't see how I can talk about this book without spoiling certain things that happened, or what certain characters decided to do, etc.


I honestly expect nothing less from Kendare Blake, I am in love with her first duology (Anna Dressed In Blood) so when I saw she'd made another series I had to try it. It was more than I had wanted!
 The characters (even side ones), the plot, and the world were so amazing and inticate- I can definitely see why more books were needed.

Blake's writing style is so haunting and unique- that's what stands out the most to me in her books.


There were so many things I didn't see coming, especially the last couple chapters.The characters kept me so distracted and were rather hard to predict.

 
Favorite Character? Katherine! 
While I did like all three sisters, Mirabella was the one I liked the least.


Least Favorite Character?
I liked Joseph up until all that stuff with Mirabella- and then I was so close to forgiving him when he does it again! 
So Joseph is my least favorite character due to that, but then Mirabella is close- though she wanted to find her sisters and did care for them most of the book... I do like her, but I don't like her enough to care if she lives or dies in the next book. Make sense?



Thoughts on the Romance?
   Well, Arsinoe and Billy are entertaining- and there wasn't any Instant Love to be concerned about there. It was gradual, and I kept waiting for one of them to kiss the other, etc. 
    Katherine and Pietyr were my favorites until he...did some ''questionabe things'' though I still like him better than Joseph *cough*. 
    And then I loved Jules and Joseph until Joseph decided to cheat on her more than once with Mirabella (who he knew would have to kill his best friend). 


So...the guys, I don't know who taught them what is acceptable in a relationship- but tossing your girlfriend off a cliff is not the way to show your affection. Though he had his reasons, but if they'd just taken a minute longer to explain what had happened and why Katherine had run- need I say the outcome would have been different?




Thoughts on the ending? Okay, when I learned Katherine and Arsinoe didn't have their gifts yet, I literally thought to myself ''Wouldn't it be funny if at the end they had each other's gifts? But there's no way the author would-''  Yeah....

I was so happy to see Katherine alive, but...when she was like ''I want my crown and my sisters dead.'' I just sat there, and was like

 
I feel like I need to read the rest of the series, before I put it off too long and either lose interest or have to reread Three Dark Crowns again.


 
What were you guys thoughts on Three Dark Crowns?


[My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐]




Thanks for reading!!
~Books with Noel

Summer Heat Contest~

I have some news to share with y'all!!



Addison Carmichael, author of the Guarded Trilogy (I have book reviews for the first 2 books here and here), is hosting a contest!


​
AUGUST SUMMER HEAT CONTEST!!


(1) $25 Amazon Gift Card

(2) Surprise Gift Bags


Just visit www.AddisonCarmichael.com and complete your name & email address on the Contact Form.

(add "Summer Heat Contest")



Contest will run from August 1st - 20th.


Winners will be randomly drawn & contacted, then announced on website & GoodReads blog on August 21st.

(1 entry per person)



Addison is currently writing the last book for her trilogy! The title is going to be Guarded Crown, and I'm sure the cover will be just as lovely as the first two.

Run over and join in on the contest while you can!




Also, I meant to do some more book reviews in July- that I didn't get around to doing. So I will be posting some on my Booktube channel, that you may not find on my blog!
Just letting you know!



Thanks for reading!!
~ Books with Noel

The Tower by Nicole Campbell + My August TBR

 I have a book review for you guys at the top of this post, and at the bottom is my TBR for August!



*I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my thoughts and opinions in any way.*

Title: The Tower

Author: Nicole Campbell

Published:




Synopsis: "On our sixteenth birthdays, our kind is gifted with awesome powers. Except no, not really because this isn’t Narnia, or Hogwarts, or whatever other mythical realm where witches supposedly live. This is Elizabethtown, Illinois, and much to the chagrin of the local chapter of Susie-Homemakers, we live here."

All witches understand that the universe is a scary sort of powerful on a good day. On a bad day? 
Well, that’s when The Tower card shows its face during a reading. As summer draws to a close before the beginning of junior year, Rowyn Black is tired of seeing that card stare up at her from the table.
 Rowyn, Reed, and Rosalyn have made it through just about every dramatic storm their sarcasm could weather during their seventeen year friendship, and it would be nice to have a quiet semester. Rowyn hopes that the only thing The Tower foretells is the frightening sight of the school parking lot come the first day- full of more jacked-up trucks and cut off shorts than a Luke Bryan video. 
True to its nature, however, the universe doesn’t care much for hopes and wishes, and when the promise of The Tower comes crashing down, they might fall right along with it.




The synopsis gave me a different idea of what the book would be about, but I still liked the version I got.
Yes, Rowyn is a witch- as are her best friends. While the other people in town know that as well, they tend to bully and cause problems for the witches.

I kind of have mixed feelings about this book.

On one hand, I did like the story it told and the characters. I was devastated when *cough* someone *cough* died earlier than I would've thought, but the author really developed the other characters through that.
I really enjoyed reading this book, but...if we look at pretty much everything else besides viewing it as a regular teen life drama- then it was kind of a let down.

There was just more regular life drama than I would have expected. That does not mean I didn't like it though!

I feel like I'm not explaining this right...
Okay, so I was let down at first when I realized it wasn't what it had seemed. BUT give it a chance.
I literally got caught up into the story and characters before I knew it.



The romance was up and down at times, but I found myself as torn as the characters were at times. Though there were times where I was just kinda...wanting to skip to where it got better than them whining about it. BUT as I later found out, the whining was necessary for their character development!

 There wasn't really a need for world building, seeing as it was nowadays...

And there were several things that threw me off, to where I couldn't exactly see what the plot was about...


So I'll say this: this book is not for everyone. Though I did enjoy it, I enjoyed it mostly because I am the person that likes to read books where things are unclear at times, and I end up being surprised about what it's actually about- y'know?
I liked this book from the first page, and if there was a book 2 I would read it as well.

I wouldn't say I connected with the characters, but I cared about them and wanted to make sure they were going to make it- that they were going to be okay after the next page.

The ending was surprising, because there was so much that had changed (and stayed the same) since the beginning. And I found that I wanted to reread it from the beginning again, just to get the feel of it again.



[My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐]


Have you read this book? What did you think?


Thanks for reading!!
~Noel Walker


P. S. I have my August TBR in a video here: