Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl blog

I really like putting together these TBR TTT lists! I'm only including books releasing in late March, April, and the beginning of May in this post. Because I know I'm going to read books beside these, but to narrow this list down, I'm only including books releasing then! Here we go! :)

And I actually managed to keep to just ten books this week! Yay for me! :)

Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR

Beneath a Prairie Moon by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter

Suitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey

Love Songs & Other Lies by Jessica Pennington

Chasing Helicity by Ginger Zee

The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

Out of Left Field by Kris Hui Lee

Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne

There we go! Ten of the books on my Spring TBR list! Do you want to read any of these? :)

Mini Review: Love, Life, and the List

Mini Review: Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

This was another fun book from Kasie West! I enjoyed reading about Abby. And I think this is the first of three companion novels? I hope it is! I have guesses on who the other two books will be about, and I want to find out if I'm right! :)

I checked this book out from my library.

Buy from Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Indiebound

On Hold Vol. 8

On Hold is a feature on the blog where every Wednesday I talk about what books I have on hold at the library. If you want to join in, feel free to use the image and link to your post in the comments area! :)

I know I've missed posting this the last few weeks. I've been really busy, and I just didn't have time to make these. But it's back now! Here we go! :)

The Mad Wolf's Daughter by Diane Magras

This book sounds really good, and I've been wanting to read it for awhile!

The Ice Sea Pirates by Frida Nilsson

I haven't heard much about this book, but it sounds interesting!

Fade to Us by Julia Day

This sounds like a good YA book!

That's three of the books I have on hold! What's on your hold list? :)

My Favorite Instagram Posts I Posted in February

At the end of January, I posted a list of Instagram prompts for me to use in February, with the hope that I would use the app more. I'm happy to to write that it was successful! I posted a photo every day in February! I haven't made prompts for March, but I am going to try and keep to posting more! Today, I thought it would be fun for me to list five of my favorite photos I posted in February! They are listed in the order they were posted.

Feb 10th: A Historical. Love Me Tender is a fun Christian Historical romance that I really enjoyed reading! And the cover is fun, too! I definitely recommend it! :) #JustAnotherTeenBookishFeb18 #bookstagram #books #ChristianBooks

A post shared by Jessica (@bookgeek2872) on Feb 10, 2018 at 10:18am PST

I like how the flower looks in this one!

Feb 13th: A Pink Book. You're Invited is a really fun MG book that I recommend! And I love how fun the cover is for it! :) #JustAnotherTeenBookishFeb18 #bookstagram #books #middlegradebooks #pinkbooks

A post shared by Jessica (@bookgeek2872) on Feb 13, 2018 at 11:56am PST

I really like the colors here!

Feb 14th: Book With a Love Story. This is a choose your own romance book, and it's fun to read! I've always liked books where you get to pick what happens in them, and this is a fun YA one! :) #JustAnotherTeenBookishFeb18 #bookstagram #books #teenbooks #yabooks

A post shared by Jessica (@bookgeek2872) on Feb 14, 2018 at 11:41am PST

It feels really summer like to me, and I'm happy with that!

Feb 18th: A Favorite Author. Katie West has written a few of my favorite books, which is why I thought it would be fun to feature those in today's post! The Distance Between Us and Lucky in Love are my two favorites by her! :) #JustAnotherTeenBookishFeb18 #bookstagram #books #teenbooks #yabooks

A post shared by Jessica (@bookgeek2872) on Feb 18, 2018 at 9:31am PST

I got to include my Mickey and Minnie Tsum Tsums here!

Feb 22: A Middle Grade Book. This trilogy is very fun! If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend reading them! :) #JustAnotherTeenBookishFeb18 #bookstagram #books #middlegradebooks

A post shared by Jessica (@bookgeek2872) on Feb 22, 2018 at 3:50pm PST

I just like the overall look of this one!

There we go! My five favorite photos I posted in February! I need to improve (a lot) with how I take photos, I'm not very good at that. But I'm happy with how these look, and I'm happy that I posted every day! And I'm getting practice at it! :)

Are you trying to improve at Instagram? Are you already awesome at it? Tell me! :)

Review: Wizardmatch

Review: Wizardmatch by Lauren Magaziner

Twelve-year-old Lennie Mercado loves magic. She practices her invisibility powers all the time (she can now stay invisible for fifteen seconds!), and she dreams of the day that she can visit her grandfather, the Prime Wizard de Pomporromp, at his magical estate.

Now Lennie has her chance. Poppop has decided to retire, and his grandchildren are coming from all over to compete in Wizardmatch. The winner inherits his title, his castle, and every single one of his unlimited magical powers. The losers get nothing. Lennie is desperate to win, but when Poppop creates a new rule to quelch any sibling rivalry, her thoughts turn from winning Wizardmatch to sabotaging it...even if it means betraying her family.
-summary and cover via Goodreads

Plot: It was really fun! The idea that everyone in her family has powers, but they're limited, was interesting! I kinda wonder what my power would be? I think it would be neat to be able to go invisible, like Lennie.

Characters: Lennie was a great main character! I liked seeing her stand up for herself in the book. And Fluffles! I mean, Sir Fluffington the Fourth, was really fun! All the rest of the characters were great, too!

The cover: Love! Perfect for the book, and I really like when multiple characters get to be on a book! (The back of the book is neat, too!)

Overall: I loved reading it! It made me laugh, and I really liked reading about all the characters in it! Very funny, and I would love to read another book about Lennie and her family. My new favorite of Lauren Magaziner's books! Highly recommend it! :)

I received an ARC of this book from the author and publisher.

Interview With Alexandra Ott

Hi! Today on the blog I am pleased to present an interview with Alexandra Ott! Ms. Ott is the author of Rules For Thieves (My review!), and the upcoming sequel, The Shadow Thieves, which releases June 5th!

Here's the interview!

The bold font are the questions I asked, the regular font are her answers, and the bold italic font are my comments about her answers.

1. Rules for Thieves was so good! The sequel, The Shadow Thieves, releases in June. What can you tell us about it?

Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I can’t say much about The Shadow Thieves without spoilers, but I will say that it’s full of high-stakes adventure, humor, thieving, and magic just like the first book, and we’ll see the return of several familiar characters as well as some new ones!

It sounds awesome! :)

2. Which character from the book was the hardest to write?

Ooh, this is a tough question! I’d say probably Beck. He has a lot of layers, with his background and his personality constantly being in conflict with one another, and he has to make hard decisions. Conveying to readers why he makes certain choices throughout the book was challenging at times. But that complexity is why I find him so fun to write!

3. Random question! What type of drink and/or snack do you always have with you when you're writing?

Caffeine is an essential! If I’m writing during the day, I’ll usually go with coffee, but I also have a terrible habit of staying up all night to write and using soda as fuel.

4. If you can talk about it, what are you working on now?

I’ve just started writing my next middle grade novel. I have to keep the details a secret for now, but I think readers who love adventure fantasy stories with fierce female leads—like Rules for Thieves!—will enjoy this one too. I’ll have more information to share about this project very soon!

I look forward to hearing more about it! :)

5. What are some books you've recently enjoyed reading?

I’ve been reading Seeker of the Crown by Ruth Lauren, which is the sequel to Prisoner of Ice and Snow; it’s a really fun middle grade fantasy series with lots of adventure and action, much like Rules for Thieves! I’m also re-reading A Wrinkle in Time, because I loved it as a kid and can’t wait for the new movie adaptation coming out!

I've never read A Wrinkle in Time, I need to! :)

Thank you so much to Ms. Ott for letting me interview her!

Author bio: Alexandra Ott writes middle grade and young adult fiction. Her debut middle grade fantasy novel Rules for Thieves was published by Aladdin/Simon and Schuster in June 2017. A sequel, The Shadow Thieves, will follow in 2018.

Alex graduated from the University of Tulsa, where she studied English. She is currently an editorial assistant at Entangled Publishing. In her spare time, she plays the flute, eats a lot of chocolate, and reads just about everything. She lives in Oklahoma with her tiny canine overlord.

Here are a few links:

Her Website

Her Twitter

Her Facebook

Her Instagram

Her Goodreads

Review: Rules For Thieves

Review: Rules For Thieves by Alexandra Ott

After twelve-year-old orphan Alli Rosco is cursed with a deadly spell, she must join the legendary Thieves Guild in order to try and save herself in this high-stakes debut.

Twelve-year-old Alli Rosco is smart, resourceful, and totally incapable of keeping her mouth shut. Some of these traits have served her well during her nine years in Azeland’s orphanage, and others have proved more troublesome…but now that she’s escaped to try her luck on the streets, she has bigger problems than extra chores to contend with. Surviving would be hard enough, but after a run-in with one of the city’s Protectors, she’s marked by a curse that’s slowly working its way to her heart. There is a cure, but the cost is astronomical—and seems well out of her reach.

Enter Beck, a boy with a gift for theft and a touch of magic, who seems almost too good to be true. He tells Alli that the legendary Thieves Guild, long thought to be a myth, is real. Even better, Beck is a member and thinks she could be, too. All she has to do is pass the trial that the King of Thieves will assign to her. Join the Guild, collect her yearly reward and buy a cure. Plus, Alli hopes the Guild will be the home—the family—that Alli has always wanted. But when their trial goes wrong, innocent lives are put in danger, and Alli has to decide how much she can sacrifice in order to survive.
-summary and cover via Goodreads

Plot: It was really good! It kept my attention really well, and I just kept turning the pages, wanting to learn what would happen!

Characters: Alli was a great main character to read about! And I liked Beck, too!

The cover: It works well for the book!

Overall: I really loved this MG debut! And after the ending? I really want to read the next book! An excellent Middle Grade book, I definitely recommend it! :)

I checked it out from my library.