24 Hour Read Your Face Off

I decided to do this challenge that took place on the 8th of September. It started at 9 am and ended on the 9th of September at 8:59 am. I was able to get a lot of reading done. I read 5 books.  These are the books that I read.

                  
These books have been on my to be read pile for a long time and this was a perfect tome to read them. All but one book received 4 stars. Candide received 3 stars. Total pages were 802. As you can see 3 books are about history, one is a classic and the other a novella. I had fun doing this and will most likely do this again next month. This goodread group does a 24 hour reading day once a month. The next one is schedule for the 13th of October. Come join us next month. Until next time keep eading.
                        

                                                         

Born Scared Review

                                                            
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#BornScared#NetGalley
Candlewick Press    Published Date September 11, 2018           Pages 256
Teens and YA
I had the privilege of being able to read this book before it was published. I did finish this book yesterday which is when it was released. This is the old cover but the new cover is a lot prettier.
This was a different book and I am still trying to process what I read. As of right now I am giving it 3.5 stars.
There were a lot of characters in this book and the transition between each one was a little rough.
This book is about a teenage boy who is afraid of everything. He is so afraid he doesn't go outside and is on medication which only slightly helps.
The story starts with him being born early at 26 weeks. He is part of twins. His sister doesn't live after an hour. He has named her Ellamay. Mom never named her. His fear starts from day one. Part of Ellamay lives within him. There are only three people that he isn't afraid of and they are mom, the doctor and his Aunt Shirley. When he was four he was caught talking with Ellamay and  scared his mom and the doctor. His mom's name is Grace and the Doctor's name is Owen Gibson. Everyone else he calls Monkems.
Enter new characters the two Santas who are Leodnar Dacre (Dake) and Carl Jenner. Dake is the follower and Carl is the leader. They are bad men. They are planning on robbing the bank vault, by using yet another person named Gordon. They will make Gordon rob the bank for them by using his mom as leverage. How do they know about Gordon well yet another character is used and that is Kaylee who is dating Carl. Kaylee likes Carl because he is different and fun. Kaylee gives him all the information about Gordon. She assures Carl that Gordon is so predictable that you can set a clock by him.
The story goes on and Elliot is given the wrong medicine so mom needs to go and the correct pills but her car dies and so she ask Shirley to go get them. Shirley is dealing with traffic because it is Christmas Eve. Before she drops of the pills she goes home to pick up the gifts to deliver them along with the pills. Shirley never makes it to their home so Mom goes to her house and she never returns either.
Elliot decides he needs to go and find his mom. This is were his adventure starts. He has a great adventure and was great to read. What happen to him? You will have to read the book. What happen to Shirley and Mom? Again you have to read the book. What does Gordon have to do with this story? I am being very careful trying not to reveal too much. It does get good but I didn't like the ending at all. You are left wondering on what happened to a few of the characters.
If you don't mind being left hanging at the end I would recommend this story. It made me a little upset because I wanted to know. I don't care if it is a good end or a sad end, I just want to know what happen. The jumping around was a little hard and I had to figure out who I was reading about. This is a story I have never read about and it was interesting. Would I read something else by this author, yes I would give him another chance.

The Poet X Review

                                                                   
The Poet X By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Young Adult           357 Pages

This book is written in verse. I wasn't a fan of this book so I only gave it 3 stars. I am getting use to reading books that are written in verse and starting to enjoy them. They are actually quick reads.
The main character is 16 year old girl named Xiomara. She has a twin brother, Xavier and her best friend, Caridad. Mom is from the Dominican Republic and Dad is from America. Mom married Dad to come to the states but she really wanted to become a nun. Mom is extremely religious. Dad doesn't do much. He is a womanizer. X loves to write poetry and her brother gave her notebook one year for their birthday to keep them in. She hates going to church. She isn't allowed to date or have contact with boys except for her brother. She is punished for the smallest things. (SPOILER) For example when she starts her period. Her mom hasn't told her anything about this or allowed her to watch the movie that they show in school so she has to look it up on google to figure out what to do. She gets money from a stash and goes to the store to get tampons but doesn't insert correctly and cries. Her mother is freaking out telling her that 11 is to young to be having a period and that only ho's use tampons. In high school during biology she meets a boy, Aman. They like each other and find ways to see each other. This is were her best friend helps out. They are eventually discovered and mom goes nuts. X wants to join the poetry club at school but mom makes her go to confirmation classes at the church. Again her best friend helps her to be able to eventually go to poetry club.  There are a few more things that happen and make the book interesting I just could not stand the mom in this story.
Brother has a secret what is it? Does mom and X get to understanding each other better? You will have to read the book to find out. Just be warned that mom is not a nice person.

Merci Suarez Changes Gears Review

                                                              
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#Merci Suarez  #Net Galley       Candle Wick Publishing        Children's fiction     Middle Grade
Release date September 11, 2018       368 pages

I was lucky enough to be selected to read this book before it is released. I enjoyed this book greatly. I gave it 4 stars.
This book is about a Latino family who live in Florida.  The family consist of a grandma, grandpa, aunt, twin cousins, mom, dad, older brother and the main character Merci. They really aren't poor but nor are they rich. probably low middle class. Both of the older children go to a private school by way of scholarship. The dad owns his own business as a painter and to pay the children's books during the summer they painted the gym. They wear a uniform to this school. Merci isn't as smart as her older brother who loves science. She has lazy eye and has gone the process of wearing a patch and having surgery. Her eye still has some issues at times.  The students are required to do community service at this school. Most students only have to do 40 hours but Merci and her brother have to do 60 hours because of their scholarship.  She isn't thrilled about her community service which is being a Sunshine Buddy. She ends up being a buddy to a boy which is unusually for a girl to be buddy with a boy. All the other children tease her when she tries to make contact in school. This new boy Michael Clark is a very cute boy and all the girls talk about him.
This book is about Merci and the things she goes through not only at school but also at home. She hates have to help out with her twin cousins because now she isn't able to go to soccer try outs which she really wants to do because she has to her Grandma watch the twins. Her Grandpa whom she adores is sick and she does find out but is the last to know and gets upset with her family for not telling her sooner. She is scared and mad at the same time.
This is a great book for a middle grader to read because it will explain about the disease her grandpa has in a very understanding way. It will give them understanding on how you can work through some hard times.
It is hard to go into detail because I don't want to give anything away about this story. I read most of it in one setting.
The author did a great job.
   

Barnes and Noble Summer Blow-Out Haul

For Labor Day Barnes and Noble had a huge summer blow-out sale. Mike let me go to the store and buy a few things. He even went with me. I have a membership which saves me an additional 10 %. I also had a 15%  coupon off your entire order. 1 item is missing because it is a gift for Aryan on his birthday and I don't know if he reads my blog but just in case I didn't picture it here. I bought 6 books and two backpacks. The purple bag was free when you bought three books. You could get only one free bag. The backpacks were 50% off and then I got another 10% and 15% off because of my membership and coupon. 4 off the books that I bought were 50% off and then I was able to add my discount and coupon on top of that. Fly Girls was 20% off and then my discount and coupon on top. The Gentleman's Guide to vice and Virtue I paid full price before my discount and coupon. So for everything we spent just under $107. 4 books I don't know too much about but heard a lot of hype about them so want to give them a try. Aryan's book is part of a series he is reading. Fly Girls is a non fiction book about the history of ladies who fly airplanes and the struggles they went through. I hope you able to take part of this sale. Sorry I didn't get this post out earlier for you to know about it.
I will try to better to let you know about sales like this.
Until then keep reading.

September TBR

can you believe it is already September. boy has this year flown by. I know I haven't posted a monthly TBR in a while so I decided to so again. This is only tentative and can change. So here we go with what I plan to read for this month.
The two audio books I will listen to in the car as I run errands and take the boys to and from school. I am a little afraid of listening to Pet Sematary by: Stephen King I hear it is scary. I don't do well with scary but we will see, it will be during the day most of the time. The other one is Seraphina by: Rachel Hartman. I have already started this one. I am only on the third disc. It is a bout a girl who is part human and part dragon. It is a fantasy. I can tell you Aryan is not enjoying this and shaking his head saying that things are impossible.
Strange The Dreamer By: Laini Taylor is one of many books that I am doing a read along for. I heard a lot about this book; some good and some bad. I want to form my own opinion and give this book a try. The second book comes out soon.
The Boys In The Boat By: Daniel James Brown is the book that the library has chosen for their book club. I have already read this book. It is about the 1936 rowing team from Washington who won the gold medal in Berlin. It is good and I will be putting up a review soon.
A Gathering Of Shadows by: V. E. Schwab is another book that I am doing a read along with. It is the second book of a series. I read the first book last month and loved it.
Godsgrave By: Jay Kristoff Is another book that I am doing a read along with. It is the second book to a series. There is to be a third book coming out soon. The first book was NeverNight which I did a review on.
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by: Mackenzi Lee is the last book this month for a read along. This is a book about a young man being raised as a gentleman and is having some life issues. It takes place in the 1800's. He goes and tours Europe before he takes over the estate in England. He doesn't get along with father.
The Bane Chronicles By: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson. This book is full of short stories about Magnus Bane from the Series that Cassandra Clare writes. I am trying to read one story a day.
This may change or I may add more books depends on what I am in the mood to read. I can already tell you that it is the 4th and I am already behind on my read along books. That is pretty normal because if the book is good and know that two of them are I will read them quickly. I am not sure about the other though.
Let me know what your reading plans are for the month. I would like to know maybe I will add them to a future TBR.
Until next time keep reading.

August 2018 Wrap up

Okay it is the end of August well actually the 1st of September. I had a great reading month and did a lot of readathons. I read 30 books which totaled 6926 pages. Of those books 16 were female authors and 14 were male authors. I read 2 classics, 6 middle grade, 6 children's, 2 cozy mysteries, 4 young adult, 3 fantasy, 1 novella, 2 mysteries, 1 historical fiction, 1 biography, and 2 horror books.
As you can see I read a variety of different genres this month. Even a few I usually don't read. I will give you a quick reminder of the books that I read and the order that I read them.
Little Lord Fauntleroy By: Frances Burnett
Haunted House By: Jan Pienkowski
A Skeleton In The Family By: Leigh Perry  I have a review up
Persuasion By: Jane Austin
The Lost Continent (Wings of fire #11) By: Tui t. Sutherland
Bob By: Rebecca Stead and Wendy Moss   I have a review up
Hooked On Murder By: Betty Hechtman   I have a review up
The Giraffe and Pelly and Me By: Roald Dahl
Ready Player One By: Ernest Cline
The Red Queen By: Victoria Aveyard
The Shape Of Water By: Guilleimo delToro
Nevernight By: Jay Kristoff    I have a review up
The Hidden Oracle By: Rick Riordan
Freaky Friday By: Mary Rodgers
Hello, Universe By: Erin Entrada Kelly
The Deal Of a Lifetime By: Fredrik Backman
Chato's Kitchen By: Gary Soto
Martin's Big Words By: Doreen Rappaport
Flossie and The Fox By: Patricia McKissack
Hershel and The Hanukkah Globin's By: Eric Kimmel
The Jefferson Key By: Steve Berry
A Darker Shade Of Magic By: V. E. Schwab
The Girl Who Came Home By: Hazel Gaynor
Zora and Me: The Cursed Ground By: T. R. Simon  I have a review on this (comes out 9-11-18)
Wonder Girl By: Don Van Natta Jr.
One Of Us Is Lying By: Karen M. McManus
Coma By: Robin Cook
Blaze By: Stephen King
The Body By: Stephen King
The Raven Boys By: Maggie Stiefvater
I hope you try one or all of these books that I have listed above. I am trying to do more reviews but time is not always on my side. Until next time keep reading.