August – The Bookish Mutant

Weekly Update: August 31–September 6, 2020

Posted on September 6, 2020September 13, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles!

With the second week of school now under my belt, I’ve started to get used the schedule. Of course, our school has the option of either hybrid (online and in-person) or 100% online, and everybody’s going to hybrid next week, so the schedule’s changing yet again…whee…

But this week has been alright. I have now inherited the role of the president of my school’s book club (!!!), so I’ve been trying to rope all of my bookish friends into joining now that all of the seniors have graduated. There’s a strange kind of power in moderating a google classroom…

My reading week hasn’t been *as* productive, but I went through my whole birthday book haul (I loved TRUEL1F3, but it just took me a while to read), and I loved them all! Expect lots of reviews soon 🙂 The same has been true of writing–I’ve been struggling with stretching out the plot a bit, but we’re nearly at 300 pages, so I suppose that’s a plus. I also went back to the library in-person for the first time, finished Devs [loud screaming], started Raised by Wolves, and later today, I’m going to the movies for the first time since February! (Safely, of course) I can’t wait to see Tenet!

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves, #3)–Sally Green (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

A Song Below Water–Bethany C. Morrow (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75, rounded up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: A Song Below Water: A Novel (9781250315328): Morrow, Bethany C.: Books

TRUEL1F3 (Lifelike, #3)–Jay Kristoff (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

TRUEL1F3 (Truelife) by Jay Kristoff: 9781524714000 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

Four Dead Queens–Astrid Scholte

Amazon.com: Four Dead Queens (9780525513926): Scholte, Astrid: Books

The Black Kids–Christina Hammonds Reed

The Black Kids | Book by Christina Hammonds Reed | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

The Good Neighbors, vol. 1: Kin–Holly Black and Ted Naifeh

The Good Neighbors: Black, Holly, Naifeh, Ted: 9780439855655: Amazon.com: Books

Raybearer–Jordan Ifueko

Amazon.com: Raybearer (9781419739828): Ifueko, Jordan: Books

The Spaceship Next Door–Gene Doucette

Amazon.com: The Spaceship Next Door (9781328567468): Doucette, Gene: Books

The Infinite Noise–Lauren Shippen

Amazon.com: The Infinite Noise: A Bright Sessions Novel (The Bright Sessions Book 1) eBook: Shippen, Lauren: Kindle Store

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: August 24-30, 2020

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles!

All things considered, the first week back to online school wasn’t too bad. Not much homework, but lots of google meets. At least classes end at noon everyday…

I ended up posting a lot more than I anticipated this week, and I’ve had a nice and productive week as far as blogging and reading my eARCs goes. (Expect my reviews of Jelly and Mary next week!) I finished off my library haul, and I loved the last two, and I enjoyed all of my eARCs. And I’m certain that I’ll have another great reading week next week; I got a gift card to my favorite bookstore on my birthday, and I got to spend it on three of my most anticipated releases of the year! (See “Currently Reading/To Read Next Week” below for said reads.)

Other than that, I got some new art supplies, ate lots of good food, watched Prometheus (ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL! Michael Fassbender can do no wrong…), and did a lot of drawing and writing. I’ve fallen a bit behind on the latter, but now, I’m nearing 300 pages, and I have a better sense of where it’s going, so that’s a plus.

Prometheus - David in the Orrery on Make a GIF

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

An Unkindness of Ghosts–Rivers Solomon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: An Unkindness of Ghosts (9781617755880): Solomon, Rivers: Books

Magnificent Ms. Marvel, vol. 2: Stormranger–Saladin Ahmed and Minkyu Jung (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed Vol. 2: Stormranger (Magnificent Ms. Marvel (2019-)) eBook: Ahmed, Saladin, Vazquez, joey, Petrovich, Eduard, Vazquez, Joey, Jung, Minkyu, Ahmed, Saladin: Kindle Store

Michigan vs. the Boys–Carrie S. Allen (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Fire With Fire–Destiny Soria (eARC) (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Jelly–Clare Rees (eARC) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter–Brea Grant and Yishan Li (eARC) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great- Great-Granddaughter (9781644420294): Grant, Brea, Li, Yishan: Books

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves, #3)–Sally Green

The Burning Kingdoms by Sally Green: 9780425290279 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

A Song Below Water–Bethany C. Morrow

TRUEL1F3 (Lifelike, #3)–Jay Kristoff

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: August 17-23, 2020

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week.

You ever just get so consumed with the fact that it’s your birthday week that you forget that it’s the last week of summer? Whoops…

At least that last week of summer was lovely for me. I had a wonderful birthday, and I’m starting to get back on my feet as far as writing goes. I’m nearing the climax, and I FINALLY feel as though I have some sense of direction. (Key word here is “some.”) I can owe part of that sense to something new–Amie Kaufman’s new podcast! For all you writers and aspiring writers out there, Amie Kaufman On Writing is a super helpful resource. There’s only two episodes out as of now, but it’s weekly, if I remember correctly.

I’ve had a hit-or-miss sort of reading week–I’ve had a lot of bright spots, but Cinderella is Dead turned out to be a major disappointment, so that was a travesty. At least there were several books that made up for it. I also got some comics and a gift card for my favorite bookstore, so there’s bound to be lots of interesting books next week…

Also, just so everybody knows, since school starts tomorrow for me, I won’t be able to post as frequently. Luckily, I get off school earlier on every day but Friday, so I’ll at least be able to get to my usual Goodreads Monday/Book Review Tuesday/Top 5 Saturday.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

The War That Saved My Life–Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley ...

Cinderella is Dead–Kalynn Bayron (⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: Cinderella Is Dead eBook: Bayron, Kalynn: Kindle Store

The Umbrella Academy, vol. 3: Hotel Oblivion–Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: The Umbrella Academy Volume 3: Hotel Oblivion eBook ...

Spinning–Tillie Walden (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Weight of the Stars–K. Ancrum (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: The Weight of the Stars eBook: Ancrum, K.: Kindle Store

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

An Unkindness of Ghosts–Rivers Solomon

Amazon.com: An Unkindness of Ghosts (9781617755880): Solomon ...

Magnificent Ms. Marvel, vol. 2: Stormranger–Saladin Ahmed and Minkyu Jung

Amazon.com: Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed Vol. 2: Stormranger ...

Michigan vs. The Boys–Carrie S. Allen

Michigan vs. the Boys by Carrie S. Allen, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble®

Fire With Fire–Destiny Soria (eARC)

Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter–Brea Grant and Yishan Li (eARC)

Amazon.com: Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great ...

Jelly–Clare Rees (eARC)

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: August 10-16, 2020

Posted on August 16, 2020August 16, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! (How are we halfway through August already? What’s going on?)

This week has been one of those weeks where quarantine has really felt like…Quarantine, you know? Not quarantine, but Quarantine. There’s plenty to do around the house, but I felt so weird, listless, and down for no identifiable reason for the first half of the week. Things started to pick up by Thursday, but it was still an odd kind of week. On the upside, I went on a short hike with my mom, did some drawing, watched North by Northwest, and took a tour of a museum (for everybody in the Colorado area, I HIGHLY recommend the Morrison Museum!)

Writing-wise, I’ve kind of been stumbling through my current WIP, so I probably need to get back to outlining…thing is, I have no idea what to put in before the climax, which should be coming…soon? So at the moment, I’ve just been tripping over my own feet in that respect. I really need to outline more.

Gob bluth GIF on GIFER - by Manadar — My last brain cells stumbling around my Pages document in an attempt to make one (1) coherent sentence

Luckily, I got a great library haul, for the most part–I even got a 5-star read in the bunch, so expect a review in the next few weeks! I haven’t read much MG this year, so it was fun to have a few of such books to get into.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Ice Wolves (Elementals, #1)–Amie Kaufman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Elementals: Ice Wolves: Kaufman, Amie, Szabo, Levente ...

On a Sunbeam–Tillie Walden (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: On a Sunbeam (9781250178138): Walden, Tillie: Books

Blanca & Roja–Anna-Marie McLemore (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: Blanca & Roja (9781250162717): McLemore, Anna-Marie: Books

Show Me a Sign–Ann Clare LeZotte (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Show Me a Sign: LeZotte, Ann Clare: 9781338255812: Amazon.com: Books

Tarnished Are the Stars–Rosiee Thor (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: Tarnished Are the Stars (9781338312270): Thor, Rosiee ...

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The War that Saved My Life–Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

The War That Saved My Life: Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker ...

Cinderella is Dead–Kalynn Bayron

Amazon.com: Cinderella Is Dead (9781547603879): Bayron, Kalynn: Books

Michigan vs. the Boys–Carrie Allen

The Weight of the Stars–K. Ancrum

Amazon.com: The Weight of the Stars (9781250101631): Ancrum, K.: Books

Spinning–Tillie Walden

Amazon.com: Spinning (9781626729407): Walden, Tillie, Walden ...

An Unkindness of Ghosts–Rivers Solomon

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: August 3-9, 2020

Posted on August 9, 2020August 9, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles!

First and foremost, I hit 200 followers this week! (I’m currently at about 207, I think.) But I’d just like to give each and every one of you a big thank you for your endless love and support.

wholesome memes, aesthetic, cats and love and affection memes ...

I’ve definitely had a nice week. I spent a few days in Vail with my family, and we did lots of walking amongst flowers and eating too much sugar, so that was a lovely reprieve from the monotony of 2020 life. (Also, writing in a bunk bed is on another level of good vibes.) As far as writing goes, I’ve finally decided to resume writing my paranormal fantasy WIP, and that’s been fun to get back into the groove. All I’ll tell you so far is that it draws a lot of inspiration from Hellboy/B.P.R.D. and Guillermo del Toro, and there’s quite a lot of sarcasm, amphibious creatures, and questionable magic afoot.

As far as reading goes, the 4-5 star high capped off last week, and I’ve had almost entirely 3 star reads this week. I got another library haul yesterday, so hopefully that’ll help pick things back up again, but only time will tell.

Other than that, I’ve started catching up on season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, started watching Devs ([loud screaming]), and I’ve been rewatching What We Do in the Shadows with my family so that we can get my brother into it. (We’ve already blown through the whole first season) I also watched I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which was lovely.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

The Shadow Wand (The Black Witch Chronicles, #3)–Laurie Forest (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

The Shadow Wand (The Black Witch Chronicles Book 3) (English ...

How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals–Sy Montgomery (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

A World Without You–Beth Revis (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Starswept–Mary Fan (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Good for Nothings–Danielle Banas (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: The Good for Nothings eBook: Banas, Danielle: Kindle Store

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

Ice Wolves (Elementals, #1)–Amie Kaufman

Ice Wolves (Elementals, #1) by Amie Kaufman

Blanca & Roja–Anna-Marie McLemore

Show Me a Sign–Ann Clare LeZotte

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte - Hardcover Book - The Parent ...

On a Sunbeam–Tillie Walden

Amazon.com: On a Sunbeam eBook: Walden, Tillie: Kindle Store

Tarnished Are the Stars–Rosiee Thor

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: July 27-August 2, 2020

Posted on August 2, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope everybody’s had a good week.

I had another library haul this week, and all of them have managed to be 4-5 star reads for me! Needless to say, expect quite a lot of gushing book reviews in the next few weeks. I finally got my hands on The Shadow Wand (the third Black Witch book), and I’m *nearly* finished, so there will definitely be A Lot of Thoughts™️ on that in the near future.

Somehow, I’ve been hitting records for my stats as far as likes and views goes this week! Before this week, the most likes I’d ever gotten on a post was about 20; now, I’ve gotten multiple posts that are above 20 likes, so that’s a first. So thank you all for all the love! 🙂

Other than that, it’s been a good week. July went by in a blur, so mentally, I’m still in July, but hey, now it’s my birthday month! I also started watching the second season of The Umbrella Academy, and I’m liking it so far! Camp NaNoWriMo is done, and now I…don’t really know what to do with myself. I outlined a bit for one of my WIPs, but I haven’t written anything in about a week, so that needs to change. Of course, I’m probably going to procrastinate yet another week, but only time will tell. I also made another original book tag (linked under “posts and such”)! Big thank you to Elle @ Geekerella Undercover for being the first to particpate! 🙂

Oh, and I also made this alignment chart of YA sci-fi books as a joke:

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha, #2)–Tomi Adeyemi (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

Children of Virtue and Vengeance (B&N Exclusive Edition) (Legacy ...

Goddess in the Machine–Lora Beth Johnson (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Amazon.com: Goddess in the Machine (9781984835925): Johnson, Lora ...

Into the Crooked Place–Alexandra Christo (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo

Honor Lost (The Honors, #3)–Ann Aguirre and Rachel Caine (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Honor Lost (The Honors, #3) by Rachel Caine

Monday’s Not Coming–Tiffany D. Jackson (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The Shadow Wand (The Black Witch Chronicles, #3)–Laurie Forest

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Books, Top 5 Saturday

Top 5 Saturday (8/1/20)–Enemies to Lovers 💘

Posted on August 1, 2020August 2, 2020 by Madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles, and happy August! [happy Leo noises]

Time for another Top 5 Saturday! This was originally started by Devouring Books, and it sounded like such a fun post to take part in. Today’s topic is enemies-to-lovers romance, otherwise known as my FAVORITE romantic trope…

UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR AUGUST:

8/1/20—Enemies to Lovers

8/8/20—Underrated Books/Hidden Gems

8/15/20—Recommended Reads

8/22/20—YA Books

8/29/20—Detective Books

Rules!

Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
Tag the original post
Tag 5 people

Let’s begin, shall we?

TOP 5 SATURDAY (8/1/20)–ENEMIES TO LOVERS

Carry On (Simon Snow, #1), Rainbow Rowell

Amazon.com: Carry On (Simon Snow Series (1)) (9781250135025 ...

THIS….now THIS is the PINNACLE of enemies-to-lovers…

Crier’s War, Nina Varela

Amazon.com: Crier's War (9780062823946): Varela, Nina: Books

I can’t wait for book 2 to come out! Only about a month…

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1), Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Amazon.com: Illuminae (The Illuminae Files) (9780553499117): Amie ...

Does this count? It’s…lovers to enemies to lovers? I would think it would count…¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Serpent & Dove, Shelby Mahurin

Amazon.com: Serpent & Dove (9780062878021): Mahurin, Shelby: Books

I LOVE Lou and Reid’s relationship, and I’m excited to see what awaits them in book 2!

The Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles, #1), Laurie Forest

Amazon.com: The Black Witch: An Epic Fantasy Novel (The Black ...

Elloren and Yvan’s romance felt forced at first, but the pairing’s started to grow on me. I’m currently reading The Shadow Wand, so things have most definitely gotten interesting…

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Top 5 Saturday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!