April 2016 Wrap Up

Hey guys!

This month I read 8 books! This was a very good reading month for me. This month was so busy and stressful. I have 20-ish days left in school, so reading was put on the back burner for most of the month. Beetle Bailey and I wrote the majority of the reviews from my blog within a couple days in preparation for an event we had going on on LivTheBookNerd blog. #AWeekOfBaileyReviews! We had a good time writing and editing and preparing for this fun week (and a half) of reviews. I hope you all enjoyed her reviews too. Here are the 8 books that I read this month!

• Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige ~ 5 ⭐️
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum ~ 4.75 ⭐️
• The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige ~ 5 ⭐️
• Kill the Boy Band by Goldie Moldavasvky ~ 4 ⭐️
• The Darkest Lie by Pintip Dunn* ~ 4.5 ⭐️
• The Reluctant Heiress by Roseanna M. White* ~ 4 ⭐️
• The Fairy's Mistake by Gail Carson Levine ~ 3 ⭐️
• Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira ~ 4.25 ⭐️
• Popular by Maya Van Wagenen ~ 4.5-4.75 ⭐️ 

(currently reading but will finish before midnight tonight 4/30)

*sponsered by the publishing house

Reviews are coming soon!

Happy reading!
Olivia
~LivTheBookNerd~

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@livthebooknerd on BooksAmino

Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky

Page Count: 320

Published on: February 23, 2016

Published by: Scholastic

Genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Humor, Thriller
Source: Print: Hardback

Age Rating: PG-12

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon  

Twitter: @goldywrites

My Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

Just know from the start that it wasn’t supposed to go like this. All we wanted was to get near them. That’s why we got a room in the hotel where they were staying.

We were not planning to kidnap one of them. Especially not the most useless one. But we had him—his room key, his cell phone, and his secrets.

We were not planning on what happened next.

We swear.

From thrilling new talent Goldy Moldavsky comes a pitch-black, hiarlious take on fandom and the badass girls who have the power to make—or break—the people we call “celebrities.”

~~~

Hey guys!

     I had heard about this book on Goodreads when scrolling through the books that had been recommended to me. When I was out shopping with my aunt one day, and I totally geeked out when I saw it..and she bought it for me...How great is she! Anyway, I read it this past month and I really liked it. There were a few parts of the book that I didn't like though...

     Though this book was really entertaining and funny, I found the situation really unrealistic, as a fangirl, I found the serious portrayal of fangirls to be really...scary..The girls were so warped, and they took their fandom and the lives of the guys way too seriously. The fandom life was portrayed to the highest extreme..and I really only could relate a little to the main character...but I would have handled the whole situation that they stuck themselves in differently. This whole book gave me a One Direction-fanfiction-y vibe. I could relate to the character's love for their favorite band members, but they were very naive yet way too serious all at the same time...I also was kind of irritated with Rupert P's character...If a band member (in real life) made the choices and comments that P made, then he'd be fired and he'd become a social pariah! 

      I first thought this was going to be a light and hilarious contemporary, but it ended up being almost like a thriller...I mean it was comical, but it was twisted! It got dark really quickly and I'm not sure if I liked it...It made me question my fangirl existance and I didn't like it one bit. I shouldn't have to justify my passion for something awesome..

Overall the book was really entertaining and addicting, but I didn't like how fangirls were portrayed...I also really liked the cover, the end pages, and the look of the actual hardback. This book was just really beautiful. :)

My 1D Fangirl Stats: 

Favorite Member of One Direction: Harry Styles

Number of times I've seen 1D in person: 2

Number of times I've met the boys: 0

If You Like ____, You'll Like Kill the Boy Band!

1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
2. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
3. The Cellar by Natasha Preston

I hope you all enjoyed this review! Happy Thursday everyone!

Happy Reading!

Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~

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@livthebooknerd on BooksAmino

Waiting On Wednesday #1

Hey guys!

      I've decided to add a new type of blog post to my blog! Waiting On Wednesday. Every month I will have a blog post dedicated to the 2016 releases that will be released during the next month. This month I will be discussing the May releases that I'm most excited for. Here are the books that I'm looking forward to the most!

1. The Crown by Kiera Cass -- May 3
2. A Court of Mist & Fury by Sarah J. Maas -- May 3
3. The Rose & the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh -- May 3
4. The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson -- May 3
5. The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan -- May 3
6. Summer Days & Summer Nights by Stephanie Perkins -- May 17

The Crown: If you've been following my blog long, then you will know this, but I am a huge fan of Kiera Cass's work. The Selection series and The Siren are some of my all time favorite books. I have read The Selection at least 3 times and then during the beginning of 2015, I binge-read the whole series in preparation for the release of The Heir. Upon reading The Heir, I died a little inside and I've been dying to get my hands on The Crown...

My Reviews: 

• The Selection, The Elite, The One ~5 stars x3
• Happily Ever After ~ 5 stars x3 and 4.5 stars
• The Heir ~ 5 stars

ACOM&F & TR&TD: I read A Court Of Thorns & Roses and The Wrath & the Dawn last year as well, and I absolutely adored them. They are both fairy tale retellings, which were wonderfully done. After reading both books, I got an immediate book hangover after each book. Each one was done so well, and I cannot wait to read their sequels!

My Reviews: 

• The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh ~ 5 stars
• A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas ~ 5 stars

The Unexpected Everything: I am such a huge fan of Morgan Matson. When I found out that there was a new Morgan Matson book coming out, and that it was another friendship story and there were dogs and the cover matched Since You've Been Gone...I was so excited. I cannot wait for this book to come out!

My Reviews:

• Amy & Roger's Epic Detour ~ 5 stars
• Second Chance Summer ~ 4.5 stars
• Since You've Been Gone ~ 5 stars

Summer Days & Summer Nights: Another one of my favorite authors is Stephanie Perkins. Summer Days and Summer Nights is the second collection of short stories that Stephanie Perkins put together. I have not read the first collection, but I have read her 3 companion novels, Anna/Lola/Isla. Each of the stories are really lovely and they are some of my all time favorite books. I'm a huge fan of anything Stephanie Perkins so I'm really excited about this book.

My Reviews:

• Anna & the French Kiss 
• Lola & the Boy Next Door
• Isla & the Happily Ever After

The Trials of Apollo: Words cannot describe how much I love Rick Riordan's writing. His Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase series are so fantastically written. It is so hard to describe my love for his books without freaking out. His characters and worlds are so addicting and wonderfully done.

My Reviews:

• The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus #5) ~ 5 stars
• The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) ~ 5 stars

There are also a few other books that I was intrigued by when looking up the books that I had seen on the Harper blog that I wanted to read. Here are some new books that I had never heard about!

• The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye ~ May 17
• Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes ~ May 3
• Wanderlost by Jen Malone ~ May 31 
• The Fall of Butterflies by Andrea Portes ~ May 10
• The Last Time We Were Us by Leah Konan ~ May 10
• This Is My Brain On Boys by Sarah Strohmeyer ~ May 10
• The Season of You & Me by Robin Constintine ~ May 10

What are some of the books that you are excited to read in May? Comment below!

Have a lovely day everyone! 

Happy Reading!

Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~

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@livthebooknerd on BooksAmino

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Page Count: 452

Published on: April 1, 2014

Published by: Harper Teen
Genre(s): Fantasy, YA, Adventure, Fairy Tale Retelling, 
Source: Print: Paperback

Age Rating: PG-15

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon

Twitter: @daniellempaige

My Rating: 5 stars

Goodreads synopsis:

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado - taking you with it - you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still a yellow brick road - but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm - and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

~~~

Hey guys!

      I had been meaning to read Dorothy Must Die for quite a while, and after I put up a poll on the BooksAmino app to ask my followers what I should read read next, they chose Dorothy Must Die! I'm so glad that I read this book, it was so addicting and the characters and plot were fantastic. It was so original, and fantastical. This series definitely going to be one of my new favorites. Within a week of reading Dorothy Must Die, I picked up The Wicked Will Rise. Words cannot describe how much I love this book.

      Oz has changed. “Oz has changed,” ...“The trees don’t talk. The Pond of Truth tells lies, the Wandering Water stays put. The Land of Naught is on fire. People are starting to get old. People are forgetting how it used to be.” Oz has become a ramshackle place full of darkness and corruption. Dorothy has destroyed the Ozians and has corrupted the world. It is up to Amy to fix the damage that Dorothy has caused. It is up to Amy...Dorothy must die.

      I just adored this book. The characters had such original back stories and their personalities were so fun and it was amazing to learn more and more about the characters that I grew up with, and the characters that Paige added to the story. The whole story had the elements of the original tale, but Danielle Paige added her new characters and mixed it apocalyptic world. It was fantastical and magical and wonderfully done. I had always wondered what would happen if Dorothy went back to Oz, and even though this world is much darker than what I had imagined before, I still fell in love with this new version of Oz. Dorothy's attitude and new power hungry ways were such a surprise. The bits of the book that centered around magic and how it affects the people from the other world (our world). 

      I desperately want this book to become a movie. I feel like this could be the next big book to movie franchise..I would definitely watch the movies. I'm not sure if the rights have been bought, but I definitely think that these books deserve to be movies. 

My Review of The Wizard of Oz: {click here}

Other Retellings That You Will Enjoy:

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer {5 stars}
• East by Edith Pattou {5 stars}
• The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor {4 stars}
• A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston {4.75 stars}
• A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas {3 stars}
• The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh {5 stars}
• Entwined by Heather Dixon {5 stars}

Happy Reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed this review!

Olivia

~LivTheBookNerd~
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{REVIEW BY BAILEY} Junie B Jones: Has A Monster Under Her Bed by Barbara Park

Page Count: 69 pages

Published on:  June 24th 1997
Published by: Random House Books for Young Readers
Genre(s): Children's Fiction,  Realistic Fiction, Humor

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon  

Bailey's Rating: 4.5 stars 

Goodreads synopsis:

Barbara Park’s New York Times bestselling chapter book series, Junie B. Jones, is a classroom favorite and has been keeping kids laughing—and reading—for more than twenty years. Over 60 million copies in print and now with a bright new look for a new generation!

Meet the World’s Funniest Kindergartner—Junie B. Jones! Junie B. knows there’s no such thing as monsters. Mother and Daddy even said so. But then why is there monster drool on Junie B.’s pillow? Oh, no! What if Paulie Allen Puffer is right—what if she really does have a monster under her bed? If Junie B. goes to sleep, the monster might see her feet hanging down. And he might think her piggy toes are yummy little wiener sausages!

USA Today: “Junie B. is the darling of the young-reader set.”

Publishers Weekly: “Park convinces beginning readers that Junie B.—and reading—are lots of fun.”

Kirkus Reviews: “Junie’s swarms of young fans will continue to delight in her unique take on the world. . . . A hilarious, first-rate read-aloud.”

Time: “Junie B. Jones is a feisty six-year-old with an endearing penchant for honesty.”

~~~

Hey guys! 

      Once again, it's time for a review/Q&A written by Bailey! Bailey loves to read and I was so excited to see that she was reading the Junie B. Jones books. I read some of the books when I was her age, and it's so awesome to see that Beetle is enjoying the books that I loved when I was her age. Here is what she had to say about Junie B. Jones Has A Monster Under Her Bed!

~~~

Q: What is this book about? Can you summarize it a bit?
A: It's about Pollie and Junie B. Jones and Pollie saying that Junie B. as a monster under her bed, and all of her friends agreed. She tried to suck up the monster with a vacuum and ran over it with car tires.

Q: What would you rate this book? Why?
A: 4.5 stars, it was one of the best, but I thought it was kind of weird because
why would there be a monster under her bed when monsters aren't real? 

Q: What did you like about this book? What did you dislike?
A: I liked it because she kind of solved the problem, and she did what Grace did. (Junie B's bus partner). I didn't not like anything

Q: Are you going to continue with the series?
A: That's my goal, yeah.

Q: Do you have anything else to say to the people reading this?
A: You should start a book blog, and if you're finishing these books then you should do reviews on them, and then review other books. :)

I hope you enjoyed Bailey's little review of her book, she's such a good reader, and works really hard to answer my questions about her books.

Happy reading!
Olivia & Bailey
~LivTheBookNerd~ & ~Beetle~
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Top 5 Wednesday: Bailey's Top 5 Favorite Books

Hey guys!

Once again, it is time for another Top 5 Wednesday! Since it is a full week of Bailey's reviews, she and I decided to figure out what her top 5 favorite books are. Bailey's compiled up a few books that she really loves off of her shelf. Each of her books are really different from each other and there are a few fantasy, a book all about cats, and a couple children's classics. Here are her top 5 favorite books from her shelf!

1. Fairy Dust & the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine
2. I Love Cats & Kittens by David Alderton
3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
4. The Space Between (The Never Girls #2) by Kiki Thorpe
5. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

1. If you have read Bailey's review for Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, you would have noticed that she gave FD&TQFTE a 6 out of 5 stars. Our mother bought this book for Bailey from Goodwill, and Bailey instantly fell in love. This book has such gorgeous illustrations by David Christiana, and Bailey would constantly come up to me and show me the illustrations and gush about them. Bailey is dying to get her hands on the 2 sequels to the book.

2. Bailey, if you do not know her well, is a huge fan of cats. She's been fascinated by cats for practically forever. She likes to read about cats, act like a cat, watch cat videos, and ask questions about cats. She's also quite shy around new people, and when she's embarrassed she meows...She's a very happy human-kitty....Bailey loves to find about new cat breeds..Her favorite breed of kitty is a rag-doll cat: 

3. The Giving Tree was one of the first books that she ever read. Bailey loves how giving and generous the tree is. The tree's love for the boy really touched her, Bailey likes to talk about how nice the tree was, and how sad the ending was. I'd like to add that The Giving Tree is one of my favorite books too, and the over all message is really lovely and meaningful. If you haven't read The Giving Tree, then Bailey and I highly recommend it. As Bailey likes to say, "It's just plain good."

4. Bailey had been totally in love with the Never Girls series when she first read and reviewed the first book: In A Blink. We've since then reviewed the fourth book in the series (reviews: {1}{4}). I asked Bailey why The Space Between was her favorite from the series, and she couldn't exactly explain what exactly caused her to make this her favorite, but she did say that she "really really likes it." She thinks it's the best from the series, and that she wants you to read it.

5. Bailey also got this book from Goodwill. She read this quite a bit ago, and she took a liking to Rudyard Kipling's funny stories. Her particular favorite was How The Whale Got His Throat. She says: "The stories are so good!...They're just nice!"

As Bailey gets older, I can tell that her tastes will change, but for now I love to see that her love of reading will continue throughout her life. I love to see her tastes changing, and her vocabulary expanding. Just today, she described someone as agile, and it was so surprising and actually kind of hilarious. She's such a smart girl and I'm a proud sister.

Check out more of Bailey's reviews here: {click}!

I hope you enjoyed Bailey's little list of favorites. We will see you tomorrow with another review!

Happy reading!

Olivia & Bailey

~LivTheBookNerd & Beetle~

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{REVIEWS BY BAILEY} The Babysitting Wars by Mimi McCoy

Page Count: 164 pages

Published on:  November 1, 2007
Published by: Turtleback Books
Genre(s): Children's Fiction,  Realistic Fiction, Humor, Romance

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon  

Bailey's Rating: 5 stars 

Goodreads synopsis:

Kaitlyn is the top babysitter in Marshfield Lake...until super-sitter Nola moves to town and starts stealing Kaitlyn's clients away. Now this isn't just babysitting, it's war! The Ultimate Babysitting Gig, at the house of the richest family in town, is at stake. How far will Kaitlyn go to defend her turf?

~~~

Hey guys!

Here is another review/Q&A by Bailey!

~~~

Q: What is this book about? Can you summarize it a bit?

A: I can't really because that would spoil it.

Q: What would you rate this book? Why?

A: 5 stars, because it's just plain great. 

Q: What did you like about this book? What did you dislike?

A: No dislikes except a mean kid is a jerk to every one in the book.

Q: Are you going to read more of the Candy Apple books?

A: Yeah.   

Q: Do you have anything else to say to the people reading this?

A: What do you not like or like about this book?

Q: How was your favorite character?
A: Kaitlyn

Q: Who did you want to win?
A: Kaitlyn

~~~

I hope you enjoyed Beetle's Q&A review! She loves to read so much, and she works so hard on these reviews..I hope you all enjoy them!

~~~

Happy reading!
Olivia & Bailey
~LivTheBookNerd & Beetle~
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{REVIEW BY BAILEY} Junie B Jones Is A Graduation Girl by Barbara Park

Page Count: 72 pages

Published on: May 8th 2001 
Published by: Random House Books for Young Readers
Genre(s): Children's Fiction, Adventure, Classics, Mystery, Realistic Fiction

Where To Find It: Goodreads // Amazon  

Bailey's Rating: 4 stars 

Goodreads synopsis:

It's kindergarten graduation!

All the children in Room Nine are excited when they get their bright white graduation gowns. Mrs. says to keep them in their boxes until the big day. But Junie B. Jones just can't help herself. Then—uh-oh!—an accident happens! Can Junie B. find a way to fix things? Or will graduation be a spotty dotty disaster?

~~~

Q: What is this book about? Can you summarize it a bit?
A: This one is about graduation, you can make it all how you want it to be. Because Junie B Jones accidentally spilled grape juice on her gown, and she colored big purple spots on her graduation gown. It was white so they showed out perfect...and all the rest of the class saw it when it was graduation day, and she walked outside to her parents and sneakily all the rest of the class just colored theirs the same way, because they wanted to make her happy... and actually purple was their graduation color. 

Q: What would you rate this book? Why?
A: 5 stars, it was really nice because they were nice to her and they colored the same way.

Q: What did you like about this book? What did you dislike?
A: I like this book because the class really really nice, and they were just surprising her by doing that. I didn't like when some people laughed at her then they saw her graduation gown.

Q: Are you going to continue with the series?
A: My answer is always yes, and that is not going to change.  

Q: Do you have anything else to say to the people reading this?
A: Um..uh..what was it...don't write down that! Um..I read these all in one sitting.

I hope you enjoyed Bailey's review! 

Happy Reading!
Olivia & Bailey

~livthebooknerd~

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