monday – Dee’s Reading Tree

Monday Cleaning Day

July 14, 2019February 8, 2022 Dee’s Reading Tree

Mondays are when I take a look at my TBR on Goodreads and decide what I want to keep and what I want to delete. I ordered the list in reverse chronological order, I skipped the books I’ve already decided to keep in other weeks, and then I picked the next ten books to take a look at and decide whether I want to keep or delete 🙂

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

I have a friend who I think would enjoy this book, which I believe was the main reason I added it. I think it’s not for me. The cover is so pretty though.

Delete 😦

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

I really hope this is not one of those over hyped books in the blogging community. The synopsis looks interesting and it has great ratings. I have been hearing about it everywhere. I haven’t read a good suspense/thriller in a while. Looking forward to it.

Keep 🙂

Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

I didn’t realize this is supposed to be a spinoff of the Remnant Chronicles series by the same author which I haven’t read. I read a sample of that first book a while ago and I did not like it. Also, some of the reviews from my Goodreads friends are not good.

Delete 😦

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

I read in another blog, and sorry I don’t remember which one that was, that this book is about forgiveness. I am not a very forgiving person and have struggled with it all my life. I thought this would be an interesting book to learn from.

Keep 🙂

The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

A book about Disney villains trying to escape from their imprisonment on an island? Say no more, sign me up.

Keep 🙂

Educated by Tara Westover

Having come to this country at an early age from Communist Cuba, where learning is so limited and narrow minded, I struggled with the same issues the main character in this book seems to struggle with. Trying to reconcile my new eye opening education with my family’s narrow view of the world, and my struggle and failure to enlighten them in some way without becoming an outcast in their eyes. I think I will enjoy this book.

Keep 🙂

the bookish life of nina hill by abbi waxman — Picture from Goodreads

The Bookish Life of Neena Hill by Abbi Waxman

I always wanted to read about a bookish character who is forced to come out of her shell. Also, look at this adorable cover.

Keep 🙂

a curious beginning by Deanna raybourn — Picture from Goodreads

A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1) by Deanna Raybourn

This one has really great reviews and ratings on Goodreads, and it has been recommended by someone on my bookstagram (don’t remember who that was sorry).

Keep 🙂

the black veins by ashia monet — Picture from Goodreads

The Black Veins (Dead Magic, #1) by Ashia Monet

I didn’t realize this book releases this week. If I was familiar with the author it would be an auto-read for me, but for now I will add it when I see more reviews on it.

Delete 😦

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Everyone has loved A Sorcery of Thorns by this author. I will give this one a try after I see if I also like it.

Keep 🙂

I have been very bad adding books to my TBR this past week. Last week I was so proud I actually reached the bottom of the list. This week not so much.

Any opinions on any of these?

Uncategorized

Monday Cleaning Day

July 7, 2019February 8, 2022 Dee’s Reading Tree

Birthday by Meredith Russo

I received a copy of this book inside my Illumini crate this month. It sounds like a very intriguing read, and it has great reviews on Goodreads. I have been getting more and more into Contemporary/ YA. I hope this won’t disappoint.

Keep 🙂

This time will be different by Misa Sugiura

This is the second book I found inside my Illumini crate this month. There are mixed reviews on this one, but since I now own the book I will definitely be giving it a try.

Keep 🙂

The Paper and Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie

I got a sample of this inside my Illumini crate and I loved it, so I will definitely be reading the actual book.

Keep 🙂

False Step by Victoria Helen Stone

This was one of the Kindle first reads picks for June. I thought the synopsis seemed interesting. It published on July 1st. If you read it let me know how it goes, I could not find a lot of reviews on it.

Keep 🙂

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Once again I got fooled by a pretty cover and did not think much before I added it to my TBR. I’m not the least bit interested in Norse Mythology, but I will definitely recommend it to my husband. He’s the one that dragged me to all the Thor movies 🙂

Delete 😦

a man called ove by Fredrick backman — Picture from Goodreads

A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman

I don’t know why I added this. I know everyone has been talking about it and it has great reviews, but I just don’t feel like reading about a grumpy old man.

Delete 😦

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

I really want to learn more about the Philippines and their culture, and I ‘ve heard this is a good book for that. The cover is not the best, but it has great reviews on Goodreads and as I mentioned on this post, I’m trying not to judge books by their covers.

Keep 🙂

Secondborn by Amy A. Bartol

Amazon recently gave me a three dollar credit to pick a book from a list of their choosing. I was dumb and I didn’t check the reviews before picking this one, I picked it because the synopsis sounded good. Now that I own it I definitely have to give it a try. But if I don’t like it I can always put it back down, I wont be forcing myself to read books I don’t enjoy.

Keep 🙂

Can you guys believe I just got to the end of my TBR list?! *audible gasp* I have been so good not adding random books, I will go ahead and pat myself on the back now 🙂

Uncategorized

Monday Cleaning Day

June 30, 2019February 8, 2022 Dee’s Reading Tree

It’s Monday again, and the only good thing about my Mondays is that I get to clean up my TBR. As always I ordered by TBR on Goodreads in reverse chronological order, and I skipped the books I have already decided to keep in my past posts. I then took a look at the next ten books and decided to keep them or delete them.

the lightning thief by rick riordan — Picture from Goodreads

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)

I feel like this is a right of passage book, and I’m totally ashamed I have not read it. I believe I’ve seen a few of the movies. I definitely need to read this series.

Keep 🙂

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

I’ve never read a book set in Alaska before, and like I said on my previous post I’m trying to expand my horizons. This book has pretty good ratings on Goodreads and has been talked about a lot on Bookstagram. I will give it a try.

Keep 🙂

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Many people on my Goodreads are saying this book should get more than five stars so I’m really intrigued. It reminds me of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins which I also loved.

Keep 🙂

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

I must’ve been in one of those peppy/ inspirational moods when I added this to my TBR, but honestly now I’m rolling my eyes at it so…

Delete 😦

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

I really liked the movie, and in my experience the book is always better. So I’m keeping this one, and I’ll just imagine Brad Pitt the whole time.

Keep 🙂

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

What an interesting and unique concept. People are born “gray and damned” and only with the help of a “belle” can they become beautiful.

Keep 🙂

Scythe by Neal Shusterman (Arc of a Scythe, #1)

This one is really famous amongst the bookstagrammer community and I see it everywhere. It has great reviews on Goodreads as well. I will definitely give it a try.

Keep 🙂

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Such a pretty cover. Great reviews as well. This one is a keeper.

Keep 🙂

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

I recently found this book while reading Call it What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer. In her book one of the main characters talks about enjoying books like Harry Potter, An Ember in the Ashes and he also mentioned this one. It looks like there are several of these books out and I’m very behind the times.

Keep 🙂

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford

I may or may not have added this book to my TBR solely because of the cover. It has mixed reviews and it doesn’t have a lot of them, so I might just wait until there is a more solid opinion on this one. I’m being very selective of what I keep on my TBR lately, and this one is not covering it.

Delete 😦

This time I only deleted two out of ten books, which can only mean I’m getting really good at only adding books I will actually read to my TBR. Would you have done anything different?

Uncategorized

Monday Cleaning Day

June 23, 2019February 8, 2022 Dee’s Reading Tree

Lately, I’ve really been trying to expand my reading horizons and come out of my YA/Fantasy shell a bit. This has led to adding all sorts of random books to my TBR, books I never would’ve read before. But, the time has come to clean up by TBR a bit I order to soothe by OCD and make it more manageable.

As always, I’ve organized my Goodreads TBR in reverse chronological order of when I added the books, I skipped the books I already decided to keep in my other Monday posts, and then I selected the first nine books and decided whether to keep them or delete them.

The smell of other people's houses book — Picture from Goodreads

The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Like I said…expanding my horizons. But…my friends on Goodreads gave this one really bad reviews, and one of them didn’t even finish it *gasp*

Delete 😦

how it feels to float book — Picture from Goodreads

How it feels to float by Helena Fox

This is a YA/Contemporary, so it still counts as expanding my reading material. It has great reviews from all my friends on Goodreads. It deals with loss, so I might have to wait until I’m in a mood to read it. But it seems like a wholesome read that I might enjoy. Terrible cover though.

Keep 🙂

the forgetting book — Picture from Goodreads

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron

I’m 99.9% sure I added this book to my TBR merely because of the pretty cover. It has terrible reviews by both my like-minded friends on Goodreads and the people I follow. Some are even calling it a waste of their time, and goodness knows I don’t have any time to waste on bad books.

Delete 😦

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

This seems interesting and I really like the cover. It was published back in 2017, but I must’ve somehow missed it. It has great reviews, a 4.18/5 on Goodreads. I can’t wait to read it.

Keep 🙂

Red, White and Royal Blue book by Caey McQuiston Contemporary — Picture from Goodreads

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I don’t think I’ve ever read a Contemporary Romantic Comedy before, but this looks like a good first one to read. It also looks like it would make a great movie someday.

Keep 🙂

On Earth we're briefly gorgeous book by ocean vuong — Picture from Goodreads

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

First thing I thought when I first saw this book was “what a terrible cover.” Are they hugging? Is one person holding the other one down? Why are they so dirty? The reviews are good, but the synopsis doesn’t sound very interesting.

Delete 😦

five feet apart by rachael Lippincott mikki Daughtry tobias iaconis — Picture from Goodreads

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, Mikki Daughtry, and Tobias Iaconis

Do I want to do this to myself? Are they both going to die at the end? I don’t think I can take another book like The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and this one reminds me a lot of that one. I think I’ll just have to be in a certain mood for this one. I also always like to read the book before I watch the movie.

Keep 🙂

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

This is another one that seems like it might make a great movie one day, seems like a nice read. I always liked the friends to enemy plot. The cover is so great too. I think I need a vacation now.

Keep 🙂

The Werewolf Queen by Brandi Elledge

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve been drunk adding random books to my TBR or something, I think it has just been really tired and overworked late night TBR adding. This doesn’t seem like something I would enjoy at all.

Delete 😦

I ended up deleting four out of nine books. Would you have done anything different? Let me know in the comments!

Uncategorized

Monday Cleaning Day

June 16, 2019February 8, 2022 Dee’s Reading Tree

Lately, I’ve been adding every pretty cover I see on Bookstagram to my TBR, I really need to stop. Thank goodness for Mondays where I get to clean this mess up. I ordered my Goodreads TBR in reverse chronological order as usual, and this time I took a look at the first ten books and decided to keep or delete them.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Senz

I don’t know why I love this cover so much. There’s something about the open field, and maybe the fact that I have a thing for beat up old trucks? This book has awesome reviews from everyone on my Goodreads, it’s actually a rare 4.35/ 5, and it has 188,441 ratings.

Keep

A Shifting of Stars by Kathy Kimbray

This one was a fairly recent release, it was published May 28, 2019. It has good reviews for now. It says it’s perfect for fans of An Ember in the Ashes, Red Queen, and Shadow and Bone. I loved An Ember in the Ashes, did not care for Red Queen, and Shadow and Bone is on my physical TBR, so I think this one is a keeper for now.

Keep 🙂

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

This seems a lot like Throne of Glass, and a lot of the reviews are saying the same thing. Girl loses kingdom, then wants to regain it with the help of a boy, and there’s of course a love triangle involved somewhere in there. Not interested. Pretty cover though. I must stop adding books for their covers! *smashes head against table*

Delete 😦

Air Awakens by Elise Kova

It definitely was not the cover that made me add this book to my TBR. I think it was a glowing review on Bookstagram, I’m not sure. Upon further investigation, it has mixed reviews on Goodreads, with some people calling it a bit cliché. I think maybe this is not for me.

Delete 😦

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

You had me at magical library. This looks like a very unique story. It has great reviews on Goodreads even though it’s a fairly new release. I just hope this is just not an overly hyped book.

Keep 🙂

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

This cover is amazing! The book has a few mixed reviews from Goodreads, but I think I will risk it and keep it.

Keep 🙂

The Diviners by Libba Bray

I thought this would be a good murder/mystery book when I first added it, sometimes I’m in the mood for those. But according to some of the reviews on Goodreads this seems to turn into something unexpected, and religion and spirituality end up playing a very big role. This is going to be no for me.

Delete 😦

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

I love fairy tale retellings, and this seems like a good twist on Snow White, where the Stepsister is the main character instead.

Keep 🙂

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

This isn’t the type of book I would normally read, but I feel like I need to branch out a bit. This is a historical fiction book, about a girl who gets put into a work camp along with her mother and brother in Russia. It has raving reviews on Goodreads. I will read it when I’m in one of those moods to have my heart ripped out of my chest by a book.

Keep 🙂

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

I’ve never read a book by this author, and I know I said I need to branch out, but maybe not that OUT. From the reviews I’ve read, it seems like this is not a good first book to read by her.

Delete 😦

My Goodreads TBR list is now down to 49 books. I feel so light and happy 🙂

Would you guys have done anything different?

Uncategorized

Monday Cleaning Day

May 20, 2019February 8, 2022 Dee’s Reading Tree

After doing a major TBR organization and clean-up on Saturday, my list on Goodreads is now looking a lot better and more manageable. Either way it’s always good to keep an eye on it and make sure I don’t go TBR happy again. Plus, all those pretty pictures on my Bookstagram lately have made me add so many books on there. Since my list is down to 76 books, this time I am only looking at the first five books I added in reverse chronological order.

Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns, #3) by Kendare Blake

I loved the first book in this series. It started out really slow, but once it picked up I couldn’t put it down. The same thing happened with the second book, except I got bored and actually put it down. Now, it’s just sitting there in my TBR basket waiting for me to pick it back up. Once I read that one, then I will read this one which is the third in the series.

Keep 🙂

Shades of Wicked (Night Rebel, #1) by Jeaniene Frost

I read a sample of this one and really liked it. Also, the reviews on Goodreads are great, it’s currently a 4.35/5 stars. I fear this author’s books might become my new guilty pleasure.

Keep 🙂

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

This one I picked up while on vacation at Fort Myers beach and I still haven’t gotten to it. It has good reviews and people really love the second one in the series called Daughter of the Siren Queen.

Keep 🙂

Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy, #1) by Emily A. Duncan

I feel like this book was just really hyped up online, but the reviews on my Goodreads seem like it hasn’t lived up to the hype. Maybe I will add it later on if someone can convince me otherwise.

Delete 😦

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3) by Holly Black

This is not even a question. I have been highly anticipating this book. I loved the first two books in this series and I can’t wait for the last one.

Keep 🙂

I’m so happy my new organization system seems to be working. I only had to delete one out of five this time. How do you guys decide what to read?

Uncategorized

Monday Cleaning Day

May 6, 2019February 8, 2022 Dee’s Reading Tree

I’ve actually been looking forward to doing this all week. I went a little TBR happy for a few days there adding everything and anything to my list. Now every time I look at it my OCD starts getting to me. Just like last Monday I organized my Goodreads TBR list in reverse chronological order. I then chose the first ten books and decided to keep or delete it. I obviously skipped the books I decided were keepers last Monday.

Marked (Eternal Guardians, #1) by Elisabeth Naughton

I read one of Naughton’s books a long time ago, it’s called Wait for Me, and it was published in 2011. At the time I was into these romance novels, but this is not that time.

Delete 😦

Rapture (The Elfin, #2) by Quinn Loftis and Surrender (The Elfin, #3)

I did like the first in this series, but once again that was many years ago and I don’t think I will continue on with it. The recent reviews for it are bad, and many of my friends on Goodreads also agree that this series went downhill.

Delete 😦

Consumed (Firefighters, #1) and The Thief (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #16)

Like I said on my Guilty Pleasures post, I have to be in a certain mood to read J.R. Ward books. I have heard a lot of great things about both of these books, especially The Thief. I do love me some Brotherhood vampires every once in a while.

Keep 🙂

Glitter (Glitter, #1) and Earthbound (Earthbound, #1) by Aprilynne Pike

These books have really bad reviews from everyone on Goodreads. I remember reading a few of Pike’s books when I was a teenager, but I think I have outgrown them. It’s a shame, because the Glitter cover is so gorgeous.

Delete 😦

Storm and Fury (The Harbinger, #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I’ve been looking forward to this book which will be out in June. I really liked her Wicked series. I found it really fun and entertaining. Before that I enjoyed the Lux series.

Keep 🙂

To Best the Boys by Mary Weber

I’ve never read one of Weber’s books, but I have heard great things about this one, and that cover is gorgeous.

Keep 🙂

The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1) by Roshani Chokshi

Once again this is another one I’ve heard lots of good things about. Everyone on my Goodreads friends list agrees this is a keeper. Also, look at that cover! I am a sucker for pretty covers.

Keep 🙂

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

I think I added to my TBR list to recommend it to a friend who likes these type of books and then I forgot about it. I have since told said friend and deleted it.

Delete 😦

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

I understand I’m way behind the times with this one. Everyone says it’s great. It has just been sitting there on my TBR list and I have struggled to get to it, but I will!

Keep 🙂

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

I really liked Flame in the Mist, but I struggled to get through Smoke in the Sun and eventually DNF it. I will attempt to read it again soon. But this one I’m really excited about because I love vampires, also the cover! It’s coming out October 8, 2019.

Keep 🙂

Once again I do realize I ended up talking about thirteen books and deleted six of them, but only because they were by the same author or part of a series. My OCD is thanking me 🙂

Have you done any deleting in your TBR list lately? Do you avoid looking at it sometimes like I do?