TeenCon2015: All the Awesome

Tags

A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Thousand Pieces of You, Amie Kaufman, Becky Albertalli, Brigid Kemmerer, Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, Claudia Gray, Cooper Bartholemew is Dead, David Levithan, Divergent, Dumplin, Eleanor and Park, Fallen, Fleur Ferris, Gayle Forman, Hidden, Hilary Badger, Hunger Games, If I Stay, Illuminae, Isla and the Happily Ever After, Jay Kristoff, John Green, Julie Murphy, Lauren Kate, Lifespan of Starlight, Maggie Stiefvater, Marianne Curley, Marie Rutkoski, Meagan Spooner, Patrick Ness, Paula Weston, Rachael Craw, Rainbow Rowell, Rebecca James, Rebecca Lim, Red Queen, Richelle Mead, Risk, Sarah J. Maas, Shadows, Shiver, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Spark, State of Grace, Stephanie Meyer, Stephanie Oakes, Stephanie Perkins, Storm, Stray, Suzanne Collins, TeenCon2015, Thalia Kalkipsakis, The Astrologer's Daughter, The Fault in our Stars, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, The Winner's Curse, These Broken Stars, Throne of Glass, Tommy Wallach, Twilight, Vampire Academy, Veronica Roth, Victoria Aveyard, We All Looked Up, Will Grayson Will Grayson

As some of you may have noticed, I was at TeenCon2015 yesterday, which is a part of Sydney Writers Festival.

Painting my Support Team Jamie poster

I started preparing on Saturday, with a big blue piece of cardboard and some yellow paint.

As it turns out, yellow paint on cardboard appears green.

About 10 coats of paint later, the sign was looking adequately yellow.

And then came Sunday, and the journey toward TeenCon began.

Our trip started well, missing the train by a mere minute (I blame trackwork, which required us to go to a less familiar station). After missing the train, instead of having a full half-hour to find the venue, we had 10 minutes.

It took us half an hour.

Nevertheless, we eventually arrived, Team Jamie sign in tow, and ended up with seats…though not ones with an amazing view…

There was a pole in my way

We had arrived during the bloggers panel, in which four popular booktubers were discussing various bookish things.

 

You don’t fall in love like you fall into a ditch

 

 

After the bloggers, the publisher people got up to tell us books that we need to read now, and books we need to pre-order now. Some of the books mentioned were:

(out now)
Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard
Shadows, by Paula Weston
A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Grey
A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
Spark, by Rachael Craw
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

(coming soon)
The Rest of Us Just Live Here, by Patrick Ness
Risk, by Fleur Ferris
The Sacred lies of Minnow Bly, by Stephanie Oakes
Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Stray, by Rachael Craw (Spark book 2)

And then it was time for the Book Boyfriend Battle, in which each publisher had 30 seconds to talk about their two nominees.

Boyfriends nominated were:

Allen and Unwin
Tarver, These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Chris Merrick, Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Bloomsbury
Chaol, Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
Arin, The Winner’s Curse series by Marie Rutkoski

Hachette
Park, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Edward Cullen, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

HarperCollins Australia
Four, Divergent by Veronica Roth
Josh, Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Penguin Teen Australia
Augustus Waters, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Dimitri Belikov, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Random House Australia
Cam, Fallen by Lauren Kate
Adam Wilde, If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Scholastic Australia
Peeta Mellark, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Sam Roth, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Text Publishing
Rafa, Shadows by Paula Weston
Tiny Cooper, Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Walker Books Australia
Jamie, Spark by Rachael Craw
Jace, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

 

’twas time for the Jamie sign to shine

Most unfortunately, Jamie did not win. Instead, the winner was

With Chaol and Four coming close second and third.

After the Battle, it was time for TeenCon to end, which meant BOOKS!

Books obtained:
Risk, by Fleur Ferris (extract)
Hidden, by Marianne Curley
Dumplin’, by Julie Murphy
The Astrologer’s Daughter, by Rebecca Lim
We All Looked Up, by Tommy Wallach
Lifespan of Starlight, by Thalia Kalkipsakis
State of Grace, by Hilary Badger
Cooper Bartholomew is Dead, by Rebecca James

And PRETTY BAGS that the books were in.

After TeenCon, some of us stayed behind to chat. I got a picture with the wonderful Claire:

And got to (finally) meet some people who I had only met via twitter.

Which was a lot of fun. We talked about books and…books.

My kind of party.

It was around 9pm when we began the trip home. I reunited with my travelling companions, and we got on a train towards the station.

However, I was to learn that my night was not yet over. As we passed through Central, I had an epiphany:

I had Chemistry homework due Monday morning.

 

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TTT: All Time Favourites

Tags

Alexandra Bracken, Amy Zhang, Bloodlines, Brigid Kemmerer, Disruption, Divergent, Falling into Place, Jessica Shirvington, Kasie West, Maggie Stiefvater, Markus Zusak, Michelle Hodkin, Pivot Point, Rachael Craw, Richelle Mead, Spark, The Book Thief, The Darkest Minds, The Raven Cycle, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Top Ten Tuesday, Vampire Academy, Veronica Roth

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Books you would classify as your all time favourites from the past 3 years

Note: I’m taking ‘from the past 3 years’ to mean books that I have read in the past 3 years.

1. Vampire Academy/Bloodlines series, by Richelle Mead

2. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin

3. The Raven Cycle, by Maggie Stiefvater

4. Divergent, by Veronica Roth

5. Pivot Point, by Kasie West

6. Disruption, by Jessica Shirvington

7. Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang

8. The Darkest Minds, by Alexandra Bracken

9. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

10. Spark, by Rachael Craw

Bonus: Spark, by Brigid Kemmerer

TTT: Books I want to read with my non-existent book club

Tags

All Our Yesterdays, Amy Zhang, Cristin Terrill, Divergent, Falling into Place, Half Bad, Kasie West, Kylie Fornasier, Lauren Oliver, Maggie Stiefvater, Markus Zusak, Masquerade, Neal Shusterman, Panic, Pivot Point, Sally Green, The Book Thief, The Raven Boys, Top Ten Tuesday, Unwind, Veronica Roth

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Ten Books I’d Love to Read with my Book Club if I had a Book Club

1. Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang

2. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

3. The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater

4. Panic, by Lauren Oliver

5. Divergent, by Veronica Roth

6. All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill

7. Half Bad, by Sally Green

8. Pivot Point, by Kasie West

9. Masquerade, by Kyle Fornasier

10. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

The Liebster Award

Tags

Amy Zhang, Bloodlines, Divergent, Falling into Place, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, J.K. Rowling, Kasie West, Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin, Percy Jackson, Pivot Point, Rick Riordan, Sarah J. Maas, Suzanne Collins, Throne of Glass, Vampire Academy, Veronica Roth

Funny story, this is actually the first thing I was nominated to do (so very long ago). It was also the last tag-thing I had to do, but then Monday’s post got delayed, so there’s on more coming.

I was nominated by Always Opinionated Girl, and now I have to answer these questions:

1. Which fictional character are you most like?

As I said in yesterday’s post, Luna Lovegood.

2. Which fandoms are you in?

Hahahaha…so many…
Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Vampire Academy, Hunger Games, Divergent, Mara Dyer…

Basically, this is my computer background.

3. What is your favourite book cover?

I love most book covers SO MUCH! I have no idea how I’m supposed to choose.

4. Which 5 books would you take with you to a desert island?

*sobs* Only five!?
I’m going to change this question to ‘series’…
Harry Potter
Percy Jackson (including Heroes of Olympus)
Vampire Academy (including Bloodlines)
The Mara Dyer trilogy
Throne of Glass series

5. What is your favourite children’s picture book?

I don’t remember a lot, but I remember loving the Franklin books.

And my favourite one I’ve read recently is Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and Grumpy Little King.

6. What do you like most and like least about book blogging?

Like Most- talking about books with people who understand books’ awesomeness.

Like least- The time consumingness (which is totally a word)

7. When was the last time you cried reading a book?

I cry very easily in books, but the most recent read that made me cry was Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang.

8. Which book are you most embarrassed to say you haven’t read?

I’m not embarrassed about not reading books…because it’s almost always a case of ‘haven’t read it…yet’.
Although some people act like I should be ashamed that I’ve read no John Green.

9. Why and when did you decide to start your blog?

I’d wanted to start for a few years, but I didn’t really get into it until earlier this year, shortly after #PTALive Sydney

10. What are three things about you that not many people know?

I find these questions hard, because I never know what to say…

a) I used to play muggle Quidditch, but quit because it was too social.

b) I love pop music from the late 90s, early 00s.

c) I got twitter so that I could enter a book giveaway, which I didn’t win.

11. What one book would you recommend I read?

Only One!?!? Probably The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin. Or Pivot Point, by Kasie West.

---

 

Ok, now I’m supposed to nominate people to complete another 11 questions.

I think we’ve established that I’m lazy, and so instead of nominating specific people, I’m just going to say, if you want to do this, then go ahead.

And these are the questions:
1. How did you get into blogging?
2. Which types of books do you prefer (ebook, audiobooks, ‘real’ books, etc.)?
3. How do you sort your bookshelves (alphabetically, rainbow, genre, etc.)?
4. What’s your opinion on ebooks, kindles, etc. (love them, hate them, indifferent)?
5. Do you prefer buying books, or borrowing them from the library, friends, etc.?
6. Would you buy a book after you’ve read it?
7. Do you like owning complete series? Or are you happy to only own 1 or 2 books from a series (and borrow the rest)?
8. Do you ever DNF (Did Not Finish) books? If so, do you write DNF reviews?
9. Have you ever read the end/last page of a book early, just to see how it ends? Or have you ever looked the ending up on wikipedia (or a similar website)?
10. Have you ever been waiting for a book, only to accidentally read a massive spoiler online before you could get to read it?
11. What are some books that you would recommend to anyone/everyone?

If you’re lazy, like me, or if you’ve already done it, then just choose one or two of the above questions and answer it in the comments.

 

Top Ten Books that have Stayed With Me

Tags

Bloodlines, Blue Lily Lily Blue, Brigid Kemmerer, Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, Divergent, Gayle Forman, Gillian Rubenstein, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, If I Stay, J.K. Rowling, Maggie Stiefvater, Percy Jackson, Richelle Mead, Rick Riordan, Space Demons, Spark, Suzanne Collins, Vampire Academy, Veronica Roth

I was tagged to do this one a little more recently than the others by the lovely Renee, who hangs out on Tumblr at Book Boyfriends. Now, I must talk about 10 books that have stayed with me. Let’s do this.

1. Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling

I think this sort of goes without saying…

2. Percy Jackson, by Rick Riordan

This series is the reason my sister reads. I will be forever thankful to Rick Riordan for writing these books.

3. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

This book was basically my ‘Welcome to Dystopian! There are things other than Twilight out there!” Before reading Hunger Games, I pretty much exclusively read Harry Potter and Twilight. There were other books, but The Hunger Games pretty much is the reason I read such a range.

4. City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare

Anyone who saw my series review of these books a few months ago will know that I have very mixed feelings about this series. But I think the fact that I read City of Heavenly Fire months ago, and am still thinking about all the issues I had with it warrants it a spot on this list.

5. Spark, by Brigid Kemmerer

I am constantly going back and rereading this, and it makes me cry every single time.

6. Divergent, by Veronica Roth

Every now and then I’ll almost start crying on the train because of the ending, but this was still a truly great series.

7. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman

If there is anyone who has read this book and it hasn’t stayed with them, I want to meet that person and ask them what is wrong with them.

8. Vampire Academy/Bloodlines, by Richelle Mead

I only began reading these in March this year, but I LOVE THESE BOOKS!!!

9. Space Demons, by Gillian Rubenstein

I have a bit of a funny history with this book, because we were in year 7 and we had to pick an Aussie author’s name out of a hat, and research that author and write a book report on one of their books. I got Gillian Rubenstein. Now, I did the assignment and everything (using a different book, who’s name I can’t remember), but then later went back to read more by this author. I immediately dismissed Space Demons because of the name. I then saw a book called Skymaze, which looked interesting until I realised it was the sequel to Space Demons. The same thing happened with Shinkei. So I was like “Fine. I’ll read Space Demons!” And I loved it. And I still love it, 8 years later.

10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue, by Maggie Stiefvater

This whole series, actually, but BLLB is my favourite (so far…there’s one more to go). They are just so amazing, and so different, and I just love them.

Top Ten Tuesday

Tags

Bloodlines, Books I Want To Reread, Divergent, Harry Potter, Hex Hall, Hunger Games, J.K. Rowling, Julie Kagawa, Let the Sky Fall, Lorien Legacies, Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin, Percy Jackson, Pittacus Lore, Rachel Hawkins, Richelle Mead, Rick Riordan, Shannon Messenger, Suzanne Collins, The Iron Fey, Top Ten Tuesday, Vampire Academy, Veronica Roth

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Series I Want To Reread

I’m just going to start by saying that if I’ve read the book/series, chances are, I want to reread it.

1. The Harry Potter series
Yes, I am aware that I’ve already read it 9 times. However, the last time I actually got a chance to read through them was several years ago. I miss them.

2. The Percy Jackson series
I’ve only read this series 3 times, and again, it’s been a few years since the last read through.

3. The Vampire Academy series
I only read this for the first time in March, and since then I’ve been constantly rereading my favourite bits from both VA and Bloodlines, but I would love to be able to sit and just read through the whole thing again.

4. The Hunger Games trilogy
The movie’s coming out soon…

5. The Divergent trilogy
I loved Divergent and Insurgent so very much. Allegiant, not quite as much (and not just because of the ending). However, because of that ending, I haven’t actually been able to bring myself to reread the series since, and I really want to.

6. The Lorien Legacies series
I remember enough that I should be able to read Revenge of Seven without too many issues, but I would love to be able to read through them all again.

7. The Iron Fey series
Man, I miss this series. Seriously. I would love to have time to read it again.

8. The Mara Dyer trilogy
After a YEAR of waiting, RETRIBUTION IS HERE!!!
(seriously, it comes out today).
But, yeah, I love this series.

9. The Hex Hall trilogy
This was a great trilogy…unfortunately, the ‘spin-off’ series only has one book…and there’s unlikely to be more. But the original series is SO AWESOME!

10. Let the Sky Fall trilogy
No idea when book 3 is coming out, but the first two were SO GOOD!

This Week in Books

Tags

Beth Crowley, Blue Lily Lily Blue, Crown of Midnight, Divergent, Gayle Forman, Heir of Fire, If I Stay, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Maggie Stiefvater, Opposition, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Pittacus Lore, Revenge of Seven, Rick Riordan, Sarah J. Maas, This Week's Adventures, Veronica Roth

The Revenge of Seven:

The Revenge of Seven is HERE!!!

However, due to uni assignments, I haven’t been able to read it yet. *sad face*

Divergent:

Divergent is OUT ON DVD!!!
I haven’t got mine yet, but it’s only a matter of time…

If I Stay:

If I Stay is now in Australian Cinemas (as of Thursday). I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll be going sometime within the next month.

A Trip to the Bookstore:

So, as yesterday’s Stacking the Shelves will inform you, I bought 3 books in the past week. On Thursday, upon arriving at the bookstore (looking for Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods), I discovered that Heir of Fire was already in stock.

I was quite excited, especially when they had Percy Jackson there, too.

However, it was not to be. As it turns out, I am literally out of money. So I told the store I would be back on Monday with the money.

To be continued…

Blue Lily, Lily Blue:

Maggie Stiefvater has recently announced on Twitter that it will soon be time for her to start sharing teasers for Blue Lily, Lily Blue. *flails excitedly*

Beth Crowley:

Beth Crowley’s album Porcelain Heart comes out on Tuesday!!
If you pre-order today or tomorrow (click here), you can still get a signed copy.

Books Read:

Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J. Maas
ASDFGHJKL!! I would have Heir of Fire by now…but alas.

Opposition, by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Unsure as to whether or not I will have finished this, but I accidentally read 150 pages without realising how much I’d read…I’ll definitely have finished it by next week.

Top Ten Tuesday

Tags

All Our Yesterdays, Cristin Terrill, Divergent, Hex Hall, Julie Kagawa, Kasie West, Kiera Cass, Kylie Fornasier, Legend, Marie Lu, Masquerade, Michelle Hodkin, Neal Shusterman, Pivot Point, Rachel Hawkins, Richelle Mead, The Immortal Rules, The Selection, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Top Ten Tuesday, Unwind, Vampire Academy, Veronica Roth, YA Books

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Books I would give to people who have never read YA

(These are not in any particular order)

1. Divergent, by Veronica Roth

2. Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead

3. Legend, by Marie Lu

4. Pivot Point, by Kasie West

5. The Selection, by Kiera Cass

6. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin

7. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

8. The Immortal Rules, by Julie Kagawa

9. All Our Yesterdays, by Cristin Terrill

10. Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins

And because since writing this list another book has come out, and I couldn’t decide which book to replace with it, I’m adding this book on the end as a bonus:

11. Masquerade, by Kylie Fornasier

This Week in Books

Tags

Bram Stoker, Dangerous Creatures, Divergent, Dracula, Four, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Richelle Mead, Silver Shadows, This Week's Adventures

Four: A Divergent Collection:

So, on Tuesday, Four came out. Needless to say, I have already bought it, and read it, and loved it.

Silver Shadows:

So, not only did the second book trailer for Silver Shadows came out on Thursday…

But you can read the FIRST THREE CHAPTERS online here.

*HYSTERICAL SOBBING*

The Half Life of Molly Pierce:

So, first I discovered this book exists.
And second, that you can read the first few chapters here.
The only problem is, I want to go out and buy it now…

Books Read:

Dangerous Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
So, technically I started reading this about a month ago, but I finally finished it on Sunday night. That wasn’t because it was boring or anything, I just wasn’t desperate to get to the end. That being said, I did quite enjoy it. Link was one of my favourite characters from the Beautiful Creatures series, and he was just as hilarious in this book.
Ridley was awesome too.

Four: A Divergent Collection, by Veronica Roth
After Allegiant, I’ve been avoiding rereading the books, despite how much I want to. This reminded me of why I want to.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Word cannot describe how much I loved this book. Possibly my favourite classic of all time.

Stacking the Shelves

Tags

A.G. Howard, Angel Fire, C.J. Redwine, Defiance, Divergent, Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Four, Jenna Black, Kiersten White, L.A. Weatherly, Neal Shusterman, Shadowspell, Sister Assassin, Splintered, Stacking the Shelves, UnSouled, Veronica Roth

Hosted by Tygna’s Reviews

Books Bought:

Sister Assassin, by Kiersten White*
Four: A Divergent Collection, by Veronica Roth
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson*

Books Borrowed:

Defiance, by C.J. Redwine
Angel Fire, by L.A. Weatherly
Shadowspell, by Jenna Black
Splintered, by A.G. Howard
UnSouled, by Neal Shusterman

 

*I’ve already read this, but bought it in order to add it to my bookshelf