T5W: Summer Reads

It's warming up here in Manitoba and I'm starting to think about the books I want to read this summer! So today's Top 5 Wednesday topic is pretty fitting. Today we're talking about summer reads, books that remind you of summer and what you would recommend other people read this summer. Without further ado...

1. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson
I read this as my first MM book last summer, and it was just perfect. It's a road trip story, so if that doesn't say summer then I don't know what does.

2. An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
Another story that takes place over a summer and features a bit of a road trip. I know not everyone likes John Green's books but I personally love them. His characters are kind of pretentious, but in the way that teenagers often are. I find them so relateable to my teenage self.

3. Summer Days & Summer Nights - edited by Stephanie Perkins
I didn't love every story in this short story collection, but most of them were super cute. I just realized that 4 out of my 5 recommendations are YA so sorry about that, but that's how I feel.

4. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series - Ann Brashares
This was my quintessential series as a teenager. I reread them summer of 2015 and it was a great time. All of the books take place over summer, and they have that perfect feeling.

5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series - Douglas Adams
This one might seem a little random, but for me, I always want to reread this series over the summer months. It might be because they're fun and crazy, and I just read through them really fast, which is something you want in a summer book. Maybe it's because I first read through them in the summer. But whatever the case may be, when I think of summer books, these definitely come to mind.

What do you think of my list? What are some of your top summer reads?

T5W: Authors You Want to Read More From.

It's Top 5 Wednesday, and I love today's topic so I'm joining in! Today's topic is authors you want to read more from. I'm taking this to mean authors that I've read one or two books from, and they have more published works that I can get to. I have quite a few authors, so I think there might be some honourable mentions at the end.

1. Emily St. John Mandel.
    I read Station Eleven for the first time in 2015 and it instantly became one of my favourite books. I absolutely loved the writing in it, and ever since then I've been wanting to read more of her works. I have 2 more of her books waiting patiently on my shelves.

2. Stuart McLean
   Stuart McLean recently passed away, and it's not very often that I get genuinely sad about a celebrity/public figure passing, but his death affected me a bit. He was a fantastic storyteller and has an extensive series called the Vinyl Cafe series. I've read the first two books and can't wait to get to more.

3. LM Montgomery
   Anne of Green Gables is my life, in case you were not aware. I've read most of the Anne series, but LM Montgomery wrote SO many books outside of that series as well. I would love to read them all.

4. CS Lewis
    Guys, I haven't really read CS Lewis outside of the Chronicles of Narnia. What even. I just really need to read more of his books because he was so wise.

5. Anthony Doer
   I read All the Light We Cannot See in 2015 (that was an excellent reading year for me, apparently) and it wrecked me, so obviously I have to read more of his books. I have a couple of them waiting on my shelves as well.

Okay, I just have one more, so it's top 6 Wednesday now hehe.

6. Ruta Sepetys
   Guess what, another author I read for the first time in 2015 that I loved that I have a couple more books from just waiting for me. Yeah...


I could add more, but these really are the top ones. What are some of the authors you need to read more from?

Top 5 Favourite Books of 2015 (so far)

Hey guys! Today is Top 5 Wednesday! Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group, and you can find the information here.

I really liked this week's topic, but I didn't have time to make a video, so I decided to write a quick blog post about it. So this week's topic is your top 5 favourite books of this year so far. It was pretty easy for me to choose, but they are in no particular order, because I don't roll like that.

5. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
         This actually the first book I picked up this year, actually. I read it while we were driving home after our Christmas holidays. This is a great dystopian/urban fantasy type story, and the story and the characters just pulled me in. The writing wasn't always my favourite (the author has a tendency to rush through action sequences, which left me feeling lost at times) but overall it was a gripping story and I was just wrecked at the end.

4. Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod
        I read this book just a couple weeks ago, and I still think about something or other about it just about every day. It's a memoir of a woman who decided to save up for a year so she could quit her job and live in Europe for 6 months. The title gives away where she left her heart. The writing was quite beautiful, and I could really feel the author's passion for the decisions she made and the things she was experiencing. It made me feel like I could save up money for a year so I could quit my job too!

3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
        If you are any kind of geek, or have any interest in video games or the 1980s, this book is going to be right up your alley. The story is set decades in the future, in the 2040s, and the world basically exists in a virtual reality online. The creator of this world passes away and leaves clues for the world's most epic scavenger hunt. Again, this was a story that just pulled me into the world, and I loved (almost) every page! There were a couple things that I found offensive (a rant of heavy Christian/religion bashing, and a crude sexual reference) but otherwise it was so much fun!

4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
         I love me some WWII fiction, and this was a beautiful one. Doerr's writing was just incredible. He was able to weave together a moving account of two children from different sides of the war, growing up in the middle of it. I was often amazed at his attention to detail, and how he was able to intertwine all of these events to create one long thread. By the end I had experienced all the feels multiple times. Keep your tissues handy.

5. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
        I had heard a lot of hype about this book, and I had reached a point where I had to read it because I was scared of getting spoiled! If I had started reading this on a Friday night, I would probably have read most of it through the night. This was such a well-crafted fantasy world! A princess runs away from her wedding, and the prince she left and a hired assassin are sent to bring her back. The tricky part is that we don't know which one is the prince and which one is the assassin. I got so into that part, trying to figure out if my guess was right. But this book is so much more than an awesome fantasy world and a crazy twist. The characters are so awesome, I loved all of them. The princess is one of the best female characters I have read in a long time, and there are good lady friendships! I couldn't ask for anything else, except maybe the second book in the series, like, yesterday!!


What books would make your top 5 list? Leave a comment and let me know!