Books

The Diviners by Libba Bray (spoiler free): NOT to be Read After Dark!

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 3 Comments

The diviners
“There is nothing more terrifying than the absoluteness of one who believes he’s right.”
-Libba Bray, The Diviners
Title: The Diviners
Author: Libba Bray
Series: The Diviners #1
Genre: Horror, Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Pages: 578
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Published: September 18, 2012
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Amazon
iBooks
Goodreads

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

My Thoughts: ☆☆☆☆☆

Want some creepy Halloween reading? You’re gonna love this!
The Diviners is unlike any book I’ve read before, and I’ve read a lot of books! The setting is New York City, 1926, but it’s fantasy! I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything with paranormal happenings that’s set in history. There are things like The Caster chronicles, but those show us history through flashbacks. This is actually set in 1926, and the world building is amazing! Actually, the writing is amazing throughout the whole thing! There are several narrating characters, (I believe I counted five???), and each point of view is separated by a chapter break. I was never confused about who was speaking as I am sometimes in Multi-POV books, but I do think it did detract from the story somewhat. Each of the characters had their own unique story, and we got a little more info about each character each time they got a turn at the mic, but I found myself caring about a few characters a LOT more than the others. It took a while to get that way, but towards the end of the book I found myself just wanting to GET BACK TO EVIE! BUT.. I have to give Libba Bray some credit here… She did a really cool thing, (there is probably a technical term for this that I am not looking up), with her characters and plot. Through those other narrating characters, we knew almost what was going on before Evie, who was the one trying to solve the mystery. It drove me insane because I thought I had the mystery solved and knew what was happening, and then what I had worked out in my head turned out to be wrong. It wasn’t completely off the mark, but it also wasn’t quite what I’d been thinking for the last 200 pages.
Now… Onward to why I said it’d be a good Halloween read… This book is seriously creepy, and it’s got some stuff in there that I normally would NOT read about. I didn’t quite know the extent of the ghost story when I picked it up, and I also skipped the prologue. i don’t typically skip prologues, but somehow I managed to scroll right past it in the Kindle book… If I had read the prologue, that would’ve been my warning flag to put the book down. I’ll read a lot of things when it comes to paranormal, but I draw the line at ouija boards, inverted pentagrams, and raising the devil. Tarot? Awesome! THAT board? Insert screaming emoji here!
Given a do-over where I knew more about the plot, I probably would never in a million years have read this book. I was 200 pages in before I figured out I’d skipped the prologue and made the connection to the creepy stuff, and by that point I was too hooked on the story to stop reading. My brain decided to associate whistling from the TV with the book for about a week, but I DID finish it! And I can’t justify not giving it five stars because it really was an awesome read.
At this point in time, I’m not sure if I’ll read the second book or not. The ending was a pretty big cliffhanger, so I’ll probably cave and read it eventually. This is a scheduled post, so if I decide to read it, you’ll see a review in a few days. And if I don’t read it, you will never hear about this series again…

Share your thoughts?

Have you read The Diviners? Do you want to read it now, or did my review scare you away? Let me know what you think in the comments, and I’d also really appreciate some historical fantasy suggestions!
From Cheyenne 🙂

The Raven King by Maggie stiefvater, (spoiler free): An Epic Ending For An Awesome start!

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 6 Comments

The raven king
“What a strange constellation they all were.”
-Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King
Title: The Raven King
Author: Maggie stiefvater
Series: The Raven cycle #4
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy, SciFi
Pages: 400
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: April 26, 2016
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Amazon
iBooks
Goodreads

Synopsis From Goodreads:

The fourth and final installment in the spellbinding series from the irrepressible, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love’s death. She doesn’t believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

My Thoughts: ☆☆☆☆☆
Y’all know how I was kind of disappointed with The Dream Thieves and Blue Lily, Lily Blue? This made up for it! It somehow managed to circle back around and wrap up all that five star awesomeness that The Raven Boys started!
I was hooked on The Raven King from chapter one. It picked up right where Blue Lily, Lily Blue ended, and not a word was wasted! From the get go there was a demon, a set of creepy triplets, and a couple nasty women after those amazing characters I’ve been raving over, and I was immediately pulled through plot twist after plot twist! That awesome character growth was still happening, but this time the plot rose up to meet it. And guys! The romance! My one true pairing actually happened! I won’t tell you anything else though because you have GOT to read this book! Lots of spoilers abound in my head right now, so I’ll just leave it at this: The Raven King was an epic finish to an awesome start with a sagging middle, and it was worth reading every page. I am glad I stuck it out with the middle two books, and I hope you will too.

You can follow these links to see my previous reviews for this series:
◦Book 1: The Raven Boys
◦Book 2: The Dream Thieves
◦Book 3: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Share Your Thoughts:

Have you Read The Raven King? Do you plan to read it, or did the middle two books detour you? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Blue lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 10 Comments

Blue Lily, Lily Blue cover art
Title: Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #3
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: 391
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: October 21, 2014
My Rating: ☆☆☆
Amazon:
iBooks
Goodreads

Goodreads Synopsis:

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

My Thoughts: ☆☆☆

Ok… I don’t really know what to say about this book! It was weirs? But amazing? And beautiful? And really creepy? And I like crazy characters? And I’m kinda confused?
I’m giving Blue Lily, Lily Blue three stars for basically the same reason that The Dream Thieves got three stars… It just didn’t really seem to carry the plot as well as the first book did. I have to say that these characters are some of the most awesomest, (that is totally a word for the purposes of this review), characters that I have ever seen in a YA fantasy novel, and I’ve read a LOT of YA fantasy novels! I’m a sucker for characters with depth, so I would love to give it four stars for that alone… BUT.. I can’t justify it.

The Writing:

The writing is still really beautiful, and it conveys the characters’ thoughts and feelings perfectly, but it’s kinda hard to follow in this book… It was pretty while still being simple in the previous books, but now it’s… overly pretty? It’s not that way throughout the whole book, but it definitely sticks out where that is the case.

The Plot:

Hmmmmmmm… tries to be not blunt
I’m not really sure how the plot of this book has anything to do with the plot of the rest of the series… I mean… Ok… There might be minor spoilers coming??? But it won’t totally ruin it because I’m about to give some plot events WAY out of context! Just skip down to the next heading if you don’t wanna risk it!
At the end of The Dream thieves, Blue’s mother disappears. I’m not saying why… Blue Lily, Lily Blue picks up right where that left off! It shows Blue and the boys searching for her, but then it detours, and strays off the path, and does a lil circle, and somehow manages to tie everything up nicely. There is a LOT of really crazy weird stuff in between, but the ending does redeem it! Everything gets wrapped up in this nice lil bundle for The Raven King to bring to an epic finish! And it better bring it to an epic finish because I have too much invested in these characters!

The Characters:

I already touched on this, but i just have to fangirl… These characters are SO real! I feel like they’re going to come out of the pages! And those arcs!
Blue: Blue is experiencing a crisis in this book, but you can still see the developement! This is her book, and her story, and her perspective on the world shaped by the first two books, and her perspective is.. quite an interesting one! And she is falling for a character who I didn’t think I’d want her with at the beginning, coughs and suddleypoints you in the direction of previous reviews, but I think maybe I like it just the tiniest bit now??? It’s growing on me!
Gansey: I thought Gansey’s character was SO flat and fake in The raven Boys, but he’s gaining some depth now! We’re starting to see some backstory, and it’s making me really want to like him! Still getting that shatter Me vibe though if you get my drift…
Ronan: NOT gonna fangirl! NOT GONNA DO IT! But he’s my favorite….. I have this thing for characters who are just really broken and have basically nothing left to lose, and that’s Ronan in a nutshell. I reeeeeeeally want him to turn around and do something awesome! But I’m afraid his heart is going to be broken before that happens and I don’t like it!
Adam: Adam’s right up there with Ronan in my book! He’s had probably the worst life of any of them, but he’s got a big role to play, I just know it! At least he better! And his character gets stronger and stronger in each book. He was SO quiet and kinda in the background at first, but now he’s a key player!
Crazy Girl: No, that’s not her real name… But i’m not telling you her real name because I want you to be as shocked as I was when you find out who she is! Just know that she’s crazy, and she sings demented songs about crowns and birds and blue lilies, and I love her because she’s crazy for the sake of being crazy! Plus, Maggie Stiefvater actually composed the music for the song, and it played at the end of the audio book, and I love it when authors make something specifically for their story like that! Maybe one day I’ll be musically talented enough to make a book soundtrack… One can dream!

Final Conclusion:

I loved it! But mostly because of the characters… I have got to find out what happens to these awesome people! The plot’s a little iffy at this point, but I think the last book is going to redeem it. I will be finishing the series because that ending was a major cliffhanger! I know an that one evil person from the first book and a new evil person from the second book were trapped in a cave together, and I think they woke up something NOT good! Maybe it’ll kill them and leave Blue and the boys to live happily ever after on the leyline? Yeah, right… Anyway… If you like awesome characters, and you enjoyed the first two books, you should read it. I think you’ll like how it ends up.

Book In A quote:

“Her aura is like yours—it’s blue,” he said. “The clairvoyant aura!”

“Is it?” She was going to be extremely annoyed if this was how she had gotten her name—like naming a puppy Fluffy.”
-Maggie Stiefvater, Blue Lily, Lily Blue

The Q&A Tag

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 7 Comments

Thanks so much to Luke Hartman for nominating me for The Q&A tag! His blog is awesome, so you should go check it out! Now… It’s time for me to answer some questions!

The Rules:

  • Link the blogger who nominated you. Answer the questions you’re given. Nominate 10 bloggers. Write out your 10 questions for them. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

My Questions:

  1. What’s your favorite beverage of all time? Uhhhh… Unsweet tea??? Or maybe coffee with chocolate creamer and milk? But I drink mostly water on a regular basis…
  2. Name three fictional characters you would want as roommates. Blue from The Raven cycle, Cath from Fangirl, and luna from Harry Potter.
  3. What is your favorite Shakespeare play? Yell at me in the comments now… I cannot stand Shakespeare. I know he shaped literature and all, but I just don’t get it!
  4. If you were to play a game of chess with a fictional character, who would it be? Umm… Ron from Harry Potter? He’d totally beat me though!
  5. What’s your favorite animated TV show? I just realized it’s been FOREVER since I’ve watched TV! Like I don’t even remember the last time I actually successfully kept up with a TV show because school and blogging and other stuff have kept me running around like a crazy person! So… I guess I don’t have an answer! 😂
  6. What’s your go-to breakfast food? Yogurt! Yep… I’m a health nut! I start my morning with yoga, meditation, and then I eat something healthy like yogurt or fruit or a protein bar.
  7. Hogwarts, Middle Earth, or Narnia? Hogwarts! No question about it!
  8. If you could visit anywhere in the world for a day, where would it be? Hawaii!!!
  9. What’s your favorite emoji? Well… The dagger is the first in my frequently used section, followed by the eye roll face, and then the laughing face with tears. It would normally be the laughing face first but it’s been a not so great school week… 🗡🙄😂
  10. Pick a song that best describes the theme of your favorite book. Favorite book?! Who has a favorite book?! Ok… I’m almost finished with The Raven King right now, and it is quickly making the top of my “favorite books ever” list. And the first song that comes to mind for it is Ravens Still Fly by Southern Raised, and that really kinda goes against the themes a little, but it also fits perfectly, and it’s one of my favorite songs, so…

I Tag:

Elm L Em Danielle Ariana Michelle Debbie Lia Jasmine Trisha

Your Questions:

  1. Name three fictional characters who would either be your best friends or your worst enemies.
  2. Name three songs that describe your personality.
  3. Coffee or tea?
  4. Favorite emoji?
  5. What’s one thing you think would be amazing yet are terrified to do?
  6. What’s the most awkward/embarrassing thing anyone has ever asked/said to you?
  7. What’s your idea of the perfect weekend?
  8. You are given the opportunity to eat lunch with three of your favorite authors/singers/famous people of choice. Who do you invite?
  9. What is the one book/memory/other object you turn to for comfort?
  10. What is one thing you would like the world to know?

*If you’ve already done this tag or just don’t wanna do it, feel free to ignore me completely! And if I didn’t tag you and you wanna do the tag, consider yourself tagged! I can’t wait to see all your answers! From Cheyenne 🙂

The Dream thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 3 Comments

The Dream Thieves “He was brother to a liar and brother to an angel, son of a dream and son of a dreamer.” -Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves

Title: The Dream Thieves

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Series: The Raven Cycle #2

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery

Pages: 437

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Published: September 17, 2013

My Rating: ☆☆☆

Amazon

iBooks

Goodreads

Synopsis From Goodreads:

If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take? Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself. One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams. And sometimes he’s not the only one who wants those things. Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan’s secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake. Of The Raven Boys, Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Maggie Stiefvater’s can’t-put-it-down paranormal adventure will leave you clamoring for book two.” Now the second book is here, with the same wild imagination, dark romance, and heart-stopping twists that only Maggie Stiefvater can conjure.

My Thoughts: ☆☆☆

After my five star review of The Raven Boys, I was really hoping for a bit more out of the sequel. don’t get me wrong! The Dream Thieves is an AMAZING read, and I WILL be finishing the series, but I still ended up giving it three stars. Let’s analyze my reasoning and see what y’all think!

The Writing:

The writing of The Dream thieves is honestly what sealed the deal on that three star rating for me. The writing of The Raven Boys was tight! There was NO confusion about who was narrating at any given time, even though there were up to five points of view being shown. Every single word counted for something, and at NO point were you left wondering exactly why you just spent 30 minutes of your day reading that chapter. The Dream Thieves didn’t seem to have that tight writing style. It stays true to the characters and the series, but sometimes it almost became more like a decoration and less like a perfectly worded masterpiece. All the metaphors and descriptions are still beautiful and amazing and wonderfully full of things for me to learn from, but I did find myself flipping back a page a few times to see who was narrating. I guess the easiest way to describe the writing is that it had a dream-like quality, (pun totally intended), but I think that was meant to contribute to the plot of the story because so much of it took place in dreams. Oh don’t cringe over it taking place in dreams! These were dream scenes done right!

The Characters:

Oh my gosh the characters! Yeah… I thought I was over my fangirl stage, but no… These characters are just too amazing to be real! Oh wait… They’re not real… They’re just little bits of story! But if you’re a bookworm of any kind you will excuse my sleep deprived brain and know exactly what I mean! These characters are the kind of characters who seem like they should just come out of the pages and be real! And those character arcs…

Blue: Blue is undergoing a transformation, and I LIKE IT! She kind of had these preconceived judgements of people who I will not name at the beginning of the series, and I can see them slowly slipping away.

Gansey: Like I said before, I do not particularly care for Gansey’s character. It’s not because his character is badly written, but because of his personality, and I think that maybe he’s one of those characters that readers are supposed to love/hate until something major happens to make them drop everything and love them. Shatter Me ringing any bells for anyone??? anyway… I can kinda see him slipping a little into somebody I can’t help but love, especially in his interactions with other characters. He reeeeeally cares for Ronan and Adam and now Blue, and it is SO sweet when that shows through.

Ronan: Ok… Y’all know about my love for Ronan if you read my review of book 1, and that love didn’t lessen any after reading The Dream Thieves. In The Raven Boys, Ronan didn’t get much time at the mic, but his story really starts to show through in The Dream Thieves. We still have that multiPOV thing going on, but there’s a definite focus on Ronan. There were a few times where I kinda questioned whether certain things were true to his character, but for the most part I LOVED it! He went through a MAJOR transformation and admitted some stuff to himself and his friends that kinda shocked me, but now that it’s out I kinda feel stupid for not seeing it earlier… Let’s see if you can guess what it is!

Adam: Can someone please just pick Adam up and put his heart back together because oh my gosh! I almost cried a couple times! And I can’t even tell you why cause spoilers!!!

Noah: Noah didn’t get a whole lot of focus in this book, but he is definitely undergoing a transformation of his own, and I don’t know if it’s a good one or not. It makes sense for his character, but I have a feeling that it’s really going to destroy my little bookworm heart when he reaches the end of it.

Mr. Gray: Yeah! We have a new character! He gets some mic time, and he is quite intriguing! But he hurt Ronan so I hate him a little!!!

The Plot:

The plot structure was VERY tight, and there was no slow spot at the beginning like there was in book 1. It jumped right into the story, although the first chapter was a little metaphorical. I do think it worked for the opening though, and it definitely fits Ronan’s character. The Dream Thieves continued the trend of weaving the individual story of each character into the bigger picture, and it was done extremely well! I love watching all the stories intertwine and connect and fall into place like puzzle pieces right where I wasn’t expecting them to join. They’re woven so tightly together that you can’t have one story without the other without the plot falling flat somewhere. And the ending? The ending was a TOTAL cliff hanger that I will NOT spoil, but somebody goes missing… I feel like that should be followed by epic music but there is none…

In Short:

You’re probably all wishing I’d get to the point now, so… You should read it! But after you’ve read The Raven Boys! Don’t go starting in the midst of a series! EVER! The writing does get a little weird at times, but I think it’s a writing technique, and it doesn’t detract from the amazingness of the story enough to make it not worth reading! If you liked book 1, book 2 will only be a minor let down, and then you’ll get sucked into book 3 just like I am now! In fact, I am going to leave you to ponder over my review and leave me comments whilst I go read and then do algebra homework!

What are Your thoughts?

Have you read The Dream Thieves? Do you want to read it? Are you reading anything creepy for October? Tell me in the comments! Until next time… Happy spooky reading to all you bookworms! Oh come on… You know you’re reading something at least a little creepy! I’m thinking Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake is gonna be my next creepy read! If you’ve read it, share your thoughts on that as well! From Cheyenne 🙂

The Coffee Book Tag

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Coffee cup on desk with pen and blank paper This tag has been sitting in my “blog about this later” notebook for ages, so it’s about time for it to get posted. I think I probably stole this tag off of somewhere because I don’t have the name of the person who tagged me, and also I don’t know who created it, so let’s just say I’m a horrible blogging friend and call it good… Anyway… It’s a really nice cool Fall day outside, and I have a mug of french vanilla cappuccino on my desk, so what better time to do a magical tag where coffee and books collide? Grab your coffee of choice, and let’s get started!

BLACK: Name a series that’s tough to get into but has hardcore fans.

Twilight Sorry to all you Twilight fans, but I don’t get your obsession. I got three chapters in and stopped…

PEPPERMINT MOCHA: Name a book that gets more popular during the Winter or a festive time of year

. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer s Stone Cover ArtI love rereading and rewatching Harry Potter around Christmas time. It’s kind of a tradition now for me to have a big HP reread and my family to have the movies on as we put up the tree.

HOT CHOCOLATE: What is your favorite children’s book?

Ok first of all… How dare you insinuate that hot chocolate is for children! I drink hot chocolate all the time in the Winter whilst I’m reading and writing, and it’s one of those drinks for any age. But i’ll be a good girl and answer the question now… Mummies in the Morning I was really tempted to say Harry Potter again, but Magic Treehouse came before that. And Mummies in the morning was my favorite book in that series because Egypt!

DOUBLE SHOT OF ESPRESSO: Name a book that kept you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Throne Of Glass Uhh yeah… I’ve been procrastinating a review of this whole series because I just have so many complicated feels, but it definitely kept me reading!

STARBUCKS: Name a book you see everywhere.

The Fault In OUr Stars If you haven’t seen this book literally everywhere over the last few months, you must be blinder than i am. And that isn’t physically possible, so… laughs at own bad joke

THAT HIPSTER COFFEE SHOP: Give a book by an indie author a shoutout.

Ignite cover art You NEED to read this book! Erica Crouch did an amazing job putting an original spin on old angelic lore! And it’s free on Kindle so…

OOPS! I ACCIDENTALLY GOT DECAF: Name a book you were expecting more from.

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia After that amazingly epic creation that was Beautiful Chaos, I was really hoping for something equally as awesome. Beautiful redemption was good, but it was still a bit of a disappointment for me. It just seemed like maybe the authors were really sick and tired of the plot and characters and just wanted to end things now!

THE PERFECT BLEND: Name a book or series that is both bitter and sweet but ultimately satisfying.

The raven boys Ok so the whole entire Raven Cycle series is like too amazing to possibly be real. If you didn’t see yesterday’s review, just go read it, and it’ll maybe sum up my feelings for the first book. I’m on the last one now, and I’m still just as hooked as I was at the start! And I am hardcore shipping two characters that I thought I’d hate together before but now I may cry if they don’t kiss by the end of this! and i’m NOT telling you who they are unless you’ve already read the series!

GREEN TEA: Name a book or series that is quietly beautiful.

Entwined by heather Dixon Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to come up with something quietly beautiful?! People are always out to kill people in the books I read! But I think Entwined fits the description pretty well. It’s a retelling of The twelve Dancing Princesses, and it’s amazing! It’s also really special to me because it was my first official book review. I entered a Summer reading contest with that review, and I won! Now it’s kind of my go to comfort book.

CHAI TEA: Name a book that makes you dream of far away places.

These broken stars book cover art The majority of this book is set in another galaxy, so enough said! I’ll be reviewing it soon.

EARL GREY: Name your favorite classic.

A Year Down YonderI know, I know… I can hear some of you scream, “that is NOT a classic!” I know it probably isn’t a classic in the usual sense, but it has a classic feel to me because it’s always been one of my favorite books. Also, I don’t read that many old classics because… there are no evil demon witch people trying to take over the world. I guess if you absolutely made me choose one, it would be

To Kill A Mockingbird.

What Do You Think?

That concludes the coffee book tag! Tell me what you guys would put together in the comments, and also please recommend me some quietly beautiful books because obviously I need them in my life… And also what are your favorite classics? I’m not tagging anybody specific because this has been around long enough that i don’t know who has and hasn’t done it, so if you’re a coffee loving bookworm and you haven’t done it yet, consider yourself tagged!

The Fifty Bookish Questions Tag

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 2 Comments

There is no friend as loyal as a book
I found this tag over on Kira’s Blog, and she tagged everybody, so I thought I’d give it a go! Kira has an awesome bookish blog, and you guys should really go check her out! And now… I have a feeling this is gonna be an extremely long post even by my standards, so let’s get started!

  1. What was the last book you read?
    Uhhh well… This is a scheduled post, but at the time of this writing, the last book I finished was Blue Lily, Lily Blue, which is the third book in The Raven cycle, (aka my current bookish obsession and the reason I am in total fangirl mode.)
  2. Was it a good one?
    YEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!
  3. What made it good?
    EVERYTHING!!! Ok, ok… I guess if you made me pick one thing that made it awesome, I’d have to go with the characters. They’re just sO amazingly realistic and awesome and unique and mysterious and I LOVE all of them! But especially Ronan! I reeeeeeeally love Ronan! fangirls The writing is also amazing because their are four, sometimes five POV characters, and yet they’re all so unique that there isn’t any confusion over who’s speaking at any given moment. Let’s just say I’ve got a LOT to learn from Maggie Stiefvater about how to pull off multiple POV’s because I’m struggling with that right now!
  4. Would you recommend it to other people?
    Absolutely! You all just need to GO READ IT! actually you should all go read the whole Raven Cycle series because you simply cannot pick up the third book in a series without having read the two books prior to it! That’s like a major bookish crime and one that my little brother is guilty of! He won’t listen to me, but i have a feeling you share my opinion if you read my blog. 😉
  5. How often do you read?
    Everyday if possible and lots more on the weekends.
  6. Do you like to read?
    Ummm… Duh?!
  7. What was the last bad book you read?
    Ok… The term “bad” bugs me when it’s used to describe a book. There are good books, and there are not so good books, but any book deserves respect. With that out of the way, I’m going to say Born At Midnight, (Shadow Falls, Book 1), since I gave it two stars in my review.
  8. What made you dislike it?
    Ummmm… Just click here to read my review… Basically it was the writing, but I go WAY more in detail.
  9. Do you wish to be a writer!
    Yep! Just look at my blog name! Being a writer is my dream, and I’ll be bringing you all updates on my writing as I do NaNoWriMo this November. And btw… Ya know how I said I was starting a new project for NaNo since “Wishes” was too complicated to write like that? Yeah… I changed my mind again. The outline totally fell into place in my head, and now i cannot wait to write it for NaNoWriMo!
  10. Has any book ever influenced you greatly?
    Definitely! I’m not listing them all here though because that’d take forever…
  11. Do you read fan fiction?
    Sometimes… If I really like a series and want more from that world, I’ll read some fan fics for it. I think I’ve only ever really got hooked on fan fiction for Harry Potter, but The Raven Cycle may drive me to read more!
  12. Do you write fan fiction?
    When I write fan fiction, it’s usually only for a writing warm up for another project. Writing fan fiction for characters I know really well helps me understand things like plot and structure, and then I can apply that to my own work.
  13. What’s your favorite book?
    Really??? That’s like asking a mother to pick a favorite child! I’m gonna be predictable and say Harry Potter, but The raven King may be a close second. Can you tell I love The Raven Cycle yet? I will probably mention it about 50 more times in the remaining questions… Sorry!
  14. What is your least favorite book?
    Things fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is hands down the worst book I have EVER read! I had to read it for school, and I still don’t get it. I hate to down a book like that, but what even was the point of the plot? I passed my English class with the help of sparknotes.com!
  15. Do you prefer physical books or reading on a device, like a Kindle?
    Definitely eBooks! I’m a braille reader, and braille books are gigantic, so if I want floor space left over, I have to read eBooks! I mostly either read Kindle books on my iPad or listen to books from Audible.
  16. When did you learn to read?
    I started learning to read braille when I was four, and I’ve been an avid reader ever since!
  17. What is your favorite book you had to read in school?
    I honestly do not enjoy many books that are required for school, but i’m going to call this a tie between Tuck Everlasting, Number the Stars, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and To Kill A Mockingbird.
  18. What is your favorite book series?
    Harry Potter/The Raven Cycle
  19. Who is your favorite author?
    J. K. Rolling/Maggie Stiefvater
  20. What is your favorite genre?
    Definitely young adult, but more specifically young adult fantasy.
  21. Who is your favorite character from a book series?
    Definitely Ronan from the Raven cycle! I just love him sooooooo much!
  22. Has a book ever transported you somewhere else?
    Uhhh yeah… That’s kinda what books do!
  23. Which book do you wish had a sequel?
    Ummm… I can’t actually think of one right now… I haven’t read a stand alone in forever!
  24. Which book do you wish didn’t have a sequel?
    Divergent! If Insurgent had never happened, all would be right in the world!
  25. How long does it take you to read a book?
    two to three days, depending on how much time I have.
  26. Do you like when books become movies?
    Yes, if it’s done right.
  27. Which book was ruined by its movie adaptation?
    The Lightning Thief! That movie was just NOT right!
  28. Which movie has done a book justice?
    Definitely all the Harry potter movies, and the Hunger Games.
  29. Do you read newspapers?
    No, boring, zzzzzzz….
  30. Do you read magazines?
    Yep, writing and craft magazines mostly.
  31. Do you prefer newspapers or magazines?
    Magazines definitely!
  32. Do you read while in bed?
    I almost always read in bed.
  33. Do you read while on the toilet?
    Yep… My iPad usually goes to the bathroom with me, I’m ashamed to admit… 😳
  34. Do you read while in the car?
    Yep. I usually listen to audio books on long car trips.
  35. Do you read while in the bath?
    Nope… I’d most likely end up dropping my iPad in the water, and that would be a sad day!
  36. Are you a fast reader?
    Very!
  37. Are you a slow reader?
    Ummmmmm… No. 🙂
  38. Where is your favorite place to read?
    Curled up in the window seat with my kitty.
  39. Is it hard for you to concentrate while you read?
    Nope… Reading makes me tune everything out for a while.
  40. Do you need a room to be silent while you read?
    Yes, definitely.
  41. Who gave you your love for reading?
    My mom and dad always read to me while I was little, and then my grandma introduced me to audio books, and I just never stopped loving books.
  42. What book is next on your list to read?
    After I finish The Raven King, I plan to start Girl In Pieces by Kathleen Glasco.
  43. When did you start to read chapter books?
    Probably in second grade or so.
  44. Who is your favorite children’s book author?
    Lemony Snicket!
  45. Which author would you most like to interview?
    Either J. K. Rolling or Maggie Stiefvater!
  46. Which author do you think you’d be friends with?
    Magie Stiefvater or Kami Garcia.
  47. What book have you reread the most?
    Definitely the Harry Potter Books.
  48. Which books do you consider “classics?”
    Anything that has an important historical or moral message and that is taught over and over again in school.
  49. Which book do you think should be taught in all schools?
    Anything that gets students interested in reading. If Harry Potter could be taught in school, that would be awesome!
  50. Which books should be banned from all schools?
    I don’t think any book should be banned from anywhere because books are sacred!

I Tag..

Anybody brave enough and with enough patients to tackle fifty questions! If you do it, drop me a link so i can see all your bookish answers, and does anyone wanna count how many times I mentioned The Raven cycle?
From Cheyenne 🙂

The Hogwarts House cup

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Hey people of Blog Land for the second time today! This post is for all you dumbledorks like myself out there who have always dreamed of participating in the traditional Hogwarts House Cup challenge! Ok… So it isn’t exactly traditional because obviously none of us can fly around on broomsticks or casts spells for points, but it’s been altered to make it possible for muggle bookworms to have loads of fun! I’m fighting on team Ravenclaw, and you can hop on over to Michelle’s awesome blog for all the bookish details. Basically, the amount of pages you read from October 10th to November 6th will earn points for your house, and you can earn additional points in competitions like making Harry Potter inspired dIY’s. There’s a Twitter and Instagram account to follow, along with a form to fill out and some important hashtags, so make sure you read Michelle’s post to find out the specifics. Hope you’ll come join the bookworm fun!

September Rap-up/October Expectations

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

A goal without a plan is just a wish

It’s Fall, y’all! Yeah, I know it’s been Fall for a while now, but today it actually feels like Fall in my part of the world! It’s October 1st, exactly one month until NaNoWriMo, and I actually decided to be a productive human being over the weekend and make a schedule for school, writing, blogging, reading, and mindless entertainment time. Yeah, I’m shocked too! Anyway… Today I am bringing you a recap of everything I posted, some stuff that’s been going on with me, and upcoming stuff for October. Yes, I have posts for the next two months planned out in my notebook. I don’t know what alien creature took over my brain, but I think I like it. And just a heads up before I really begin this post, my blogging software has decided to act possessed today, and my ability to inserts headings and links properly is questionable at this time, so this could be interesting… I guess i’ll just put headings in all caps for now! 

 

PERSONAL GOINGS ON: 

The last two weeks have been nightmarish with school. Like the dagger and angry face emojis made it into my frequently used section. I’m not crazy, (it’s an inside joke), but that’s how bad it was. I won’t get into that right now because y’all really don’t wanna hear me rant, but just know that it involved three power points, a chemistry test, a teacher’s inability to modify assignments for me, eighty pages of reading, and algebra, and that is why I haven’t been blogging. 

On a happier note, I’ve officially decided to do NaNoWriMo again this November! Someone prepare my room in the psych ward now please! I’m gonna try to write 50000 words on top of a packed school schedule! I know i probably won’t hit it, but I’m going to try, and even if I don’t, at least I’ll get to be part of an awesome community again for a month. I’m starting a completely new project because the one I’ve been sharing snippets from is very complex, and I really want to do it justice. If I make it my Nano project, I know I’ll fly through it, and then it’ll be a mess, and I’ll never edit it. It needs a really structured outline because of the way the plot is twisted together over a few generations, so I’m trying to develop that the right way first. I’m not really sure how to explain my new project yet, but i’ll probably be ready to do that for my Snippet Sunday post tomorrow. If any of you guys are also attempting NaNo this November, please give me a shout out in the comments! I need some fellow insane writing buddies! And if you’re a NaNoNewbie, I’d love to help you get started! 


BLOGGING HAPPENINGS: 

This list of what i posted in September is kinda sad, but… here it goes: 

■I updated you guys on my absence and suggested a “blogger’s bookclub,” which is still open for comment! 

■Here is Snippet Sunday #4, (featuring an angry glare!) 

■I did the reader confession tag. 

■I gave my first two star review. 

■I reviewed Girl of Nightmares. 

■Here is Snippet sunday #5, (in which i picked a random card from my outline folder.) 

■Angelfall got three stars! 

■I divulged my blogging secrets in the book blogger insider tag! 

■The Ravenclicks took third in the first task of the Blogger’s House cup! 

■I confused myself and shared a special poem while telling you how I see the world… 

■I shared a criptic saying in Snippet Sunday #6. 


UPCOMING STUFF: 

•An overview of my NaNoWriMo project, assuming I can put it into words. 

•How I outline for NaNowriMo 

•The coffee book tag 

•The totally should’ve book tag 

•My NaNoWriMo survival kit 

•Probably a rant about this stupid Mac update because it’s making me vary angry as I’m trying to write this!!! 

•Reviews including: 

◦The Raven Boys, (there WILL be fangirling!) 

◦The Dream Thieves 

◦Blue Lily, Lily blue 

◦The Raven King 

◦The Raven Cycle rap-up/series at a glance review 

◦The Islands At the End of the World 

◦Girl In Pieces 

◦Thirteen Reasons Why 

◦These Broken stars 

◦Awake At dawn, (Shadow Falls, book 2) 

◦And I Darken 

◦Blind 

◦Breaking butterflies 

◦Between the devil and the Deep Blue Sea 

◦The Diviners 

◦An Ember In the Ashes 


WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? 

Have you read any of these books? Do you plan to read any of them? Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Are you going crazy because of school? Do you like the Fall weather? do you hate me asking you all these questions? Let’s chat in comments! You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram @Cheyenne_writes to see lots of writing updates and pics of my kitty! 

The Book Blogger Insider Tag

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ 6 Comments

There is no friend as loyal as a book

I found this tag over on Danielle’s blog, and she tagged everyone, so technically I’m tagged! I can’t resist a good book tag, and I thought this would be a great way for you to get to know me and my blogging habits a little better. And maybe I just needed a quick post… 

The Rules: 

  1. Answer the questions below. 

  2. Credit the creator: Jamie @ A Little Slice Of Jamie 

  3. Tag at least five people. 

  4. Have fun! 

The Questions: 

  1. Where do you typically write your blog posts? 

I prefer to write my blog posts on my MacBook because I found blogging software that is super accessible to my screen-reader, plus I just love my Macbook, and I usually sit at my desk so I can connect a braille display and see all the crazy things that autocorrect comes up with. I have been known to type posts in the WordPress app on my phone and iPad if I’m on the go or just don’t want to put out the effort to get up and get my laptop. This post is being written on my bed because my wrists hurt from typing at my desk all day. And I don’t have a braille display connected, so please excuse my goofs! You probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but a braille display connected to my laptop is the equivalent of the screen for you, and without it I’m going on a computerized robot voice to pick out mistakes. I guess I could just go get the display, but who wants to move that much after Algebra and Chemistry homework? Not I! 😉 

  1. How long does it generally take you to write a book review? 

Depends on the book and how in-depth I want to get with my ranting/fangirling. I can usually finish a review in less than two hours, and I think the longest I’ve spent on one was four hours. The hardest part for me is formatting all the links and headings and posts because I always have something to say about a book! 

  1. When did you start your book blog? 

Hmmm… This is complicated… I started my first blog in April while I was doing CampNaNoWriMo, and it was more for writing related stuff than books. That blog was under an obscure URL so nobody ever found it, and I used my real name, which creeped me out a little when I started reviewing books and people started noticing. SO… I moved over to this blog in July of this year… I think. 

  1. What is the worst thing about having a book blog in your opinion? 

Writing bad reviews is rough! I recently gave my first two star review, and that was hard to write! But I know that I appreciate honest book bloggers who have a mixture of good and not so great reviews on their sites, and I want to be one of those honest book bloggers. 

  1. What is the best thing about having a book blog in your opinion? 

I love the community! I very rarely see negativity among book bloggers. that is, I don’t ever see people putting other people down just for the heck of it. I see some bad reviews, but those are all for the good of honest readership! 


6. What blog post have you had the most fun writing so far? 

Hmm… All of my blog posts are fun for me to write. I don’t write anything that isn’t fun to write, because if it isn’t fun to write, then it won’t be fun to read! That being said, I think my favorite posts are probably my review of Anna Dressed In Blood, or this Snippet Sunday. 


7. When do you typically write? 

For some reason the writerly part of my brain likes to not work until around 9 PM, so I end up writing into the night… 

8. Do you review every book you read? 

I have reviewed every book I’ve read since starting this blog. If I ever don’t finish a book, I most likely will not review it. I don’t like reading DNF reviews because if you don’t finish it, you can’t exactly judge it in it’s entirety. I may make a short note that I didn’t finish something on a wrap-up post, but I will not post a full review. 


9. How do you write your book reviews? With a cup of coffee or tea? With Netflix? Cuddled with your fur baby? 

Whenever I write anything, I will have a cup of coffee or tea, and also a glass of water because I try to balance caffeine intake with water. I sometimes have Netflix, (Supernatural), on for background noise, but usually it’s Pandora, Spotify, music from my iPod, or a youtube video. And my fur baby is currently confined to a cage because he decided to climb over something and cut his stomach open… He’s a big cuddly kitty by the name of JackO, (short for JackOLantern because he has big orange eyes that sometimes turn green.) No, I’m serious. My cat’s eyes change color. Tell me I’m not the only one with a freaky eye changing cat! Anyway… When he’s allowed to roam around, he usually sits in my lap and bats at the mouse pointer whilst I’m attempting to write. 


10. When do you write your book reviews? Right after finishing a book? Two weeks after finishing a book? 

I usually try to write my reviews the day after I finish the book so it’s still fresh on my mind, but I’m not still angry/sad/majorly obsessed with whatever I just read. 


11. How often do you post? 

Hahahahaha… I’m just gonna skip over this question… Jk! But seriously… I had a great posting schedule, and then school happened, and now things don’t happen on time! I’d like to post two or three times a week, but it’s usually more like once over the weekend. I’ve got some stuff scheduled though, so that should change! 


I tag: 

*Don’t feel obligated to do the tag if you’ve already done it or just don’t want to do it! 🙂 

What Do You Think? 

Do we share any blogging habits? Do any of my habits seem crazy to you? What’s your favorite post out of everything you’ve written? Let’s chat in the comments!