Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Title:  Challenger Deep Author:  Neal Shusterman Genre: Contemporary, YA, mental illness My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench. Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior. Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence, to document the journey with images. Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head. Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny. Caden Bosch is torn. A captivating and powerful novel that lingers long beyond the last page, Challenger Deep is a heartfelt tour de force by one of today's most admired writers for teens.  This book really hit home for me, especially with recent events in my life. Dealing with mental illness is hard f

What I love about the blogging world is that it feels like a safe place for me. I can rave about books I love, fangirl over upcoming releases, rant about bookish pet peeves, and push books on people like no other, and no one judges. We all love books, we've all been there, and I feel like I have had a lot of great conversations and made friends with people I've never met in person. Most of my "real life" friends know I'm a bookworm. Every birthday present since the age of five has involved books or gift cards for books or bookmarks. What my friends don't realize is just how much I read, and that I get review copies  and ARCs from publishers. Sometimes I'm so excited about a book that I have an ARC of and I start recommending it to my friends and then they ask questions about how the whole blogging thing works and then comes the inevitable question: Can I see your blog? I don't know about you, but ironically my blog is my secret saf

Title:  Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume  Author:  Arthur Conan Doyle Genre: Mystery, classic My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : Since his first appearance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has been one of the most beloved fictional characters ever created. Now, in two paperback volumes, Bantam presents all fifty-six short stories and four novels featuring Conan Doyle’s classic hero - a truly complete collection of Sherlock Holmes’s adventures in crime! Volume I includes the early novel A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the eccentric genius of Sherlock Holmes to the world. This baffling murder mystery, with the cryptic word Rache written in blood, first brought Holmes together with Dr. John Watson. Next, The Sign of Four presents Holmes’s famous “seven percent solution” and the strange puzzle of Mary Morstan in the quintessential locked - room mystery. Also included are Holmes’s feats of extraor

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: ALL TIME FAVORITE AUTHORS This is one of the easiest TTTs for me to do because I have just over 10 favorite authors! 1.  Is it any surprise that number one is Brandon Sanderson ? If it is, clearly you haven't been on my blog very often :P 2. The ever-brilliant and fantastically imaginative Neil Gaiman is also obviously on my list: 3. Also Scott Lynch, creator of my friends the Gentleman Bastards 4. Melina Marchetta, whose every book has made me cry in pain and happiness 5. Markus Zusak, for writing one of my most treasured books (The Book Thief) 6. Patrick Ness, for all those books that gave me a hug when I felt lost or alone 7. Margaret Atwood, for never failing to make me see beauty and hope in the strangest of circumstances 8. Neal Shusterman, whose books have made me laugh, cry, scream, and jump for joy 9. Laini Tayl