Book Traveling Thursday (#24) 2016 Favorite

Hey everyone! It’s Thursday and that means it’s almost the weekend. I hope you guys have had a great week so far. It also means that it’s time for another Book Traveling Thursday. This meme is hosted by  Cátia @ The Girl Who Read Too Much and Danielle @ Danielle’s Book Blog. To find out more information, future themes and more, go to the meme’s Goodreads group here! This week’s theme is:

We’re halfway through 2016. Choose your favorite book of the year so far.

This is a tough one! I’ve mentioned quite a few of my favorites already. I have so many favorites… For this theme I have decided to do I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson. This is a book that I’ve definitely raved about a lot. Without further ado, here we go!

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Original Cover/Cover From My Country (US):

Favorite Cover(s):

Portuguese

Spanish

Slovak

Serbian

My favorite out of these was the Portuguese one. It’s so beautiful. I love how there are different colored raindrops instead of rays.

Least Favorite Cover(s):

Polish

Dutch

Swedish

These are all my least favorites. The Polish one has too much writing and shouldn’t have a random person on it. The Dutch one is plain and boring. The Swedish one has some things that have to do with the book but it still doesn’t make much sense.

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That’s a wrap! What are your favorite and least favorite covers? Let me know!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week’s Book Traveling Thursday!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀

 

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WWW Wednesday (#24)

Hey everyone! Just a quick little thing before I begin this post. I am closing in on 200 WordPress followers. A few days ago I asked you guys to give me some questions. Y0u can find that here. I just wanted to mention this so I could have a good sized Q&A post for you guys. Thanks!

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Today is Wednesday and that means it’s time for WWW Wednesday. This meme is currently hosted by the wonderful @Sam. Go check out her blog if you haven’t already! To participate in this meme, all you have to do is answer three questions:

What did you recently read?

What are you currently reading?

What are you going to read?

Without further ado, here we go!!

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Recently Read:

This was an amazing book! I will be doing a review ASAP 😀

This was a great book. It’s a Tween book but I’ll probably still do a review since it was very good.

This was a fast yet satisfying read!

Currently Reading:

This is a pretty good book so far. I didn’t like the format at first but now I’m starting to enjoy it.

Going to Read:

That’s it so far!

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That’s a wrap! How was your reading this week? Link your WWW or let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week’s WWW Wednesday!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀

Top Ten Tuesday: Freebie!

Hey everyone! It’s Tuesday and that means it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday. This meme is hosted by the bookworms @ The Broke and the Bookish. You should definitely check them out! This week’s theme is a FREEBIE! Since it hasn’t been done yet for this meme, I will be doing ten LGBTQ books I’ve read.  Without further ado, here we go!

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TEN LGBTQ Books I’ve Read:

1. Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

The main character is a boy who goes back into the closet when he starts a all boys boarding school.

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2. The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsberg

One of the books I have to review. One of the main characters, a boy, has an alcoholic dad. The other is a lesbian. They go on an exciting adventure to find the grandpa of the boy. Will they find him? Read the book to find out!

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3. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

The main character is a boy named Simon whose secretly gay. He has an adorable email relationship with a boy named Blue. All Simon knows is that Blue goes to his school.

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4. I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

The main characters are twins. One is in love with a biker. The other is gay and in love with the new neighbor. Something happens that makes the twins not talk to each other and avoid all contact. Do they make up and become close again? Read the book to find out!

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5. Every Day by David Levithan

A book about a person who changes bodies every day. They live a different life everyday but are always in love with the same girl.

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I could only think of five. I feel like I’ve read more LGBTQ books than that! Have you read any of these books? Let me know!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more Top Ten Tuesdays

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀

So This Happened…

Hey everyone! I hope you’re having/you had a great day 🙂 I spent most of the day at the beach. It was good to relax and sink my toes into the sand. The purpose of this post wasn’t to tell you about my day. It was to show you this:

Elizabeth Dahl, the author of Genie Wishes, gave me and Random Reads a shoutout! I just casually went on her Twitter and was shocked to see this tweet. 

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Thank you so much Elisabeth Dahl! I’m glad you enjoyed my blog enough to give it a Twitter shoutout 🙂 Just thought I’d share this with you guys!

Thanks for reading!!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀 ❤

Book Review|Half Brother

Hey everyone! Welcome to Monday. I know most people dread Mondays. If I wasn’t on summer break, I would be dreading it too. Hang in there! Today I am going to be doing a book review. I will be reviewing Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel. I finished this book a while ago but am just know doing a review. Without further ado, here we go!

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Title: Half Brother

Author: Kenneth Oppel

# of pages: 375

Genre: Fiction, Animals

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Goodreads Rating: 4/5 stars

Amazon Rating: 4.7/5 stars

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Amazon Summary:

“For thirteen years, Ben Tomlin was an only child. But all that changes when his mother brings home Zan–an eight-day-old chimpanzee. Ben’s father, a renowned behavioral scientist, has uprooted the family to pursue his latest research project: a high-profile experiment to determine whether chimps can acquire advanced language skills. Ben’s parents tell him to treat Zan like a little brother. Ben reluctantly agrees. At least now he’s not the only one his father’s going to scrutinize.
It isn’t long before Ben is Zan’s favorite, and Ben starts to see Zan as more than just an experiment. His father disagrees. Soon Ben is forced to make a critical choice between what he is told to believe and what he knows to be true–between obeying his father or protecting his brother from an unimaginable fate.”

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Critic Reviews (Credit Given):

“Set in the simpler time of the early ’70s, this well-plotted novel weaves together themes of animal rights, family issues and the cost of animal research….There are no easy answers, just a thoughtful portrayal of real people grappling with tough questions.” – Kirkus

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“Half Brother is highly recommended for all YA collections….a funny and exceptional story” – VOYA.

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* “Deftly integrating family dynamics, animal-rights issues, and the painful lessons of growing up, Half Brother draws readers in from the beginning and doesn’t let go. The carefully crafted characters will be an easy connection for teens and the interpretation of the animal-testing controversies of the 1970s will provide an alternate viewpoint for animal-book lovers.” – SLJ, starred review

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My Thoughts:

This was a great book. I took half a star off because it’s very similar to another book. Half Brother is about a boy named Ben Tomlin. When his mom brings home a chimpanzee from a zoo, Ben doesn’t like him at all. As Ben gets to know the chimp later named Zan, he falls in love. Unfortunately, Zan is part of animal testing. He is to be treated like a human and to learn sign language. Zan feels like more than a test subject to Ben. His dad feels otherwise. Ben’s dad feels that he is getting to close with Zan and tries to separate them and ruin their close relationship. Ben is outraged. His dad is rough and mean to Zan. To him he’s a chimp. To Ben, he’s family. I wouldn’t recommend this book if you can’t handle some harsh moments. This was a great read and really opened my eyes to how terrible animal testing really is.

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That’s a wrap! Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If you haven’t, did this review make you want to? Let me know!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more book reviews!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀

1 Year Blogiversary!!

Hey everyone!! Yesterday (June 23rd) was my 1 year blogiversary.  Thank you guys so much for being on this journey with me. Whether your a new follower or have been with me since I started learning the ropes, you all mean a lot to me. Without you guys, I wouldn’t be here right now. To celebrate, let’s look back on what I’ve learned and achieved through out this past year.

 

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All Time Stats: (As of 6/23/16)

Posts: 263

Views: 4,051

Visitors: 2,076

Best Views Ever: 45 on May 15th, 2016

Followers on WordPress: 195

Followers on email and WordPress: 2oo!

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How Did It All Start?

It was June 23rd, 2015 and I had just finished reading a book called Genie Wishes by Elizabeth Dahl. It’s about a girl who is appointed as the class blogger. She blogs around a theme and what’s going on. It was a great book. For some reason, it really motivated me to start a blog of my own. I had always loved reading, writing and books so that’s what my blog ended up being about. If you were here at the beginning, you probably remember that Random Reads wasn’t the original name. Just like the URL, it was readersandmore. I later realized that that name didn’t suit the blog. It was too simple. That’s how Random Reads got started.

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What Are Five Things I’ve Learned?

I’ve definitely learned more than five things in this last year. These will be the five most important things.

1. Don’t feel like you have to blog everyday.

At first, I felt like I had to blog every single day. If I didn’t my followers wouldn’t like me and then I wouldn’t gain followers. Those were my thoughts at first. Now I know that that’s not true. True followers and fans of your blog will stick around. Whether you have a schedule, randomly post, or rarely post, the true followers will stay. Even if you go on a hiatus for a lengthy amount of time, don’t feel ashamed or worried. Blog as much as you want.

2. Don’t blog if it feels like work.

If blogging ever feels like work to you, take a step back. Do you need a bit of a break? New content or ideas? Is this just not what you want to do? Ask your self those questions. Blogging should be a fun thing. Whether it’s a huge part of your life or not, don’t let blogging become a stressful chore.

3. Communicate with bloggers!

This is a huge thing that has really made my blogging experience. Interact with bloggers around you on WordPress. Find people who have the same interests as you. I have so many amazing book blogging friends who have made me smile and made me inspired. If you don’t communicate, you won’t learn new things and make new friends.

4. Stats Don’t Matter

Yes, I still look at stats pretty frequently. In reality, stats don’t matter. It doesn’t matter how many views you got that day. It doesn’t matter how many visitors you got. All that matters is that you enjoy what your doing. If you can look at the stats and feel motivated to continue and become better, go right ahead.

5. Scheduling is your friend!

Going away on vacation? Busy the next day? The scheduling option will save your life. I’ve learned that this option can seriously save you. All you have to do is sit down and crank out posts. It will save you the stress of wondering when you will have time to blog.

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What’s Next?

Since I’ve reached 1 year of blogging, I’m obviously going to look ahead.

– I’m not quitting anytime soon 🙂

-More book reviews

-I will continue to do memes (ex. Top Ten Tuesday)

-More amazing things!

-Reaching 200 WordPress followers

-Reaching 1,000 followers!!

-2 years of blogging

-So much more!!

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I know I’ve said it so many times but thank you for following me. Your love and support is what really keeps me going. I love you guys 😀 I hope this post wasn’t too long. I wanted to keep it as short and sweet as possible. On a side note, I REACHED 200 FOLLOWERS!! Well, including email followers. WordPress doesn’t seem to count that though. When I officially reach 200 though, I will be doing a Q&A. You can find the post here. Don’t forget to drop me any questions you want me to answer. I don’t have many yet and want a nice big post to celebrate the milestone.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more to come on Random Reads!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀

 

 

Questions for 200 Follower Q&A!!

Hey everyone! As you may know, I am about to reach 200 followers!! Including email followers, I have already reached it but I haven’t gotten the official notification yet. As part of my celebration for 200 followers, I will be doing a Q&A. All you guys have to do is leave as many questions as you like. They can be questions about pretty much anything so ask away!

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I hope you guys give me lots of questions to answer 🙂 You can keep dropping questions in the comments of this post up until I do the official Q&A.

Thanks for reading and ask away 😀

~Makayla the Bookworm 😉

Book Traveling Thursday (#23) Summer

Hey everyone! It’s almost the weekend and that means it’s time for Book Traveling Thursday. This awesome meme is hosted by Catiá @ The Girl Who Read Too Much and Danielle @ Danielle’s Book Blog. You definitely need to check their blogs out if you haven’t already. To find out more information, future themes and more, go to the Goodreads page here. This week’s theme is:

Summer just started!! Choose a book you want to read this  Summer.

There are so many books I want to read! I have decided to do The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I have yet to read this book and think this summer is a good a time as any.

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Original Cover/Cover From My Country (US):

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Favorite Cover(s):

Portuguese

Bulgarian

Spanish

Vietnamese

My favorite out of these is probably the Vietnamese one because it has a creepy cartoony feel to it.

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  Least Favorite(s):

French

Norwegian

Slovak

Chinese

My least favorite out of these is probably the Slovak one. Yes, I haven’t read the book so these might be good covers. I don’t like the Slovak one because the “blood” doesn’t seem like it’s part of the cover. It’s just randomly there.

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That’s a wrap! What are your favorite and least favorite covers? Let me know! Have you read the Book Thief? If you have, how was it?

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week’s Book Traveling Thursday!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀

WWW Wednesday (#23)

Hey everyone! It’s Wednesday and that means we are halfway through the week! It also means it’s time for WW Wednesday! This meme is currently hosted by the amazing Sam. You definitely need to check her blog out! To participate in this meme, all you have to do is answer three questions:

What did you recently read?

What are you currently reading?

What are you going to read?

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Recently Read:

This was a great and short read!

This was an amazing and touching book. I’ll give you my full thoughts in the review I’ll do ASAP.

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Currently Reading:

The second book by Bill Konigsberg. I just started it and it’s pretty good so far! I’ll do a review on it as soon as I finish.

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Going To Read:

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That’s a wrap! Have you read any of these books or do they look interesting? Let me know!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week’s WWW Wednesday!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀

Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Releases

Hey everyone! It’s Tuesday and that means it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday! I hope you guys are having a great week 🙂 Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the wonderful people @ The Broke and the Bookish. You definitely need to check them out if you haven’t already. This week’s theme is pretty simple:

Top Ten Favorite 2016 Releases So Far This Year

Since I don’t always read new releases, it’ll be older releases.

Ten New Releases (2016 and before)

1. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (Released in September 2015)

Great book full of love, longing and a major plot twist!

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2. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (Published March of 2010)

This was an amazing book about grief, a love triangle and family.

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3. I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson (Released September of 2014)

The second book by Jandy Nelson. A great book about twins who both fall in love with very different people. Something happens that tears them apart. Read the book to find out if they become close again.

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4. Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg (Released in May of 2013)

This is a great book about a boy who goes back into the closet when he goes to a all boys boarding school. Find out if his secret comes out.

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5. Rules for Stealing the Stars by Corey Ann Haydu (Released in September of 2015)

A great book about a little sister who is always shunned by her sisters. When her troubled and alcoholic mom finally snaps and yells at Silly, she finally gets to see what her big sisters are up to.

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6. Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (Released in September of 2014)

A book about a boy who lives on the moon. The book follows his crazy adventures and what he encounters.

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7. Spaced Out by Stuart Gibbs (Released in April of 2016)

This is the sequel to Space Case. The crazy adventures continue in this great book 🙂

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8. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (Released in February of 2013)

A book about a classic teen relationship. The girl has a abusive stepfather and the boy has grown up in a rich family. It’s definitely a must read.

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9. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Released in September of 2013)

A love story between a cute Starbucks employee and a shy fanfiction writer. Another must read by Rainbow Rowell.

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10. Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Edgar (Released in March of 2016)

A book about a girl who makes a journey through a dessert to help her grandpa who she’s never met. Oh, and her grandpa has dementia so he frequently has episodes.

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That’s a wrap! Have you read any of these books? Let me know what you thought of them. 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week’s Top Ten Tuesday!

~Makayla the Bookworm 😀