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.

 

The Gif Tag

Tags

Abigail Haas, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz, Cinder, Dangerous Girls, E. Lockhart, Gayle Forman, If I Stay, James Dashner, Marissa Meyer, Markus Zusak, Mockingjay, Sarah J. Maas, Suzanne Collins, The Assassin's Blade, The Book Thief, The Maze Runner, We Were Liars

So…aeons ago I was tagged by Emily at The Loony Teen Writer to do the Gif Tag, where basically I have to find a gif that accurately sum up my feelings for the list of given books, and then tag other people to do the same.

We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart

Since writing this post, I have gotten this book for Christmas…still haven’t read it yet.

If I Stay, by Gayle Forman

The Assassin’s Blade, by Sarah J. Maas

I knew it was coming…didn’t make it any easier

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins

Technically two gifs…but whatever

Dangerous Girls, by Abigail Haas

I did NOT see that ending coming!

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

So, I haven’t actually read it yet…but this gif was too good to resist.
It’s on my shelf.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Saenz

And I’m still debating whether or not to read it…

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

And, because it’s been so long, I’m not even going to bother with the tagging.

Top Ten Tuesday

Tags

Amy Zhang, Bloodlines, Blue Lily Lily Blue, Books I Read In 2014, Bram Stoker, Cara Lynn Shultz, Disruption, Dracula, Falling into Place, Four: A Divergent Collection, Gayle Forman, Half Bad, If I Stay, Jessica Shirvington, Julie Kagawa, Kasie West, Kiera Cass, Kiersten White, Maggie Stiefvater, Mind Games, Pivot Point, Richelle Mead, Sally Green, Sarah J. Maas, Sinner, The Dark World, The Immortal Rules, The One, Throne of Glass, 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 I Read In 2014

I’m going to start by saying this is a cruel topic…HOW am I supposed to pick 10?

1. Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, by Richelle Mead
The whole of both series. Seriously, WHY did I wait so long to read these? They are so amazing!!!

2. Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
Again, whole series. Just so awesome!

3. Sinner, by Maggie Stiefvater
An unexpected extra story featuring Cole and Isabelle from Shiver…IT WAS AWESOME!!

4. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
Oh, this made me cry! It was a 4 hour long audio book that I started at midnight and finished at 4am. So worth it.

5. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
I’ve wanted to read this for YEARS! And it did NOT disappoint.

6. Four: A Divergent Collection, by Veronica Roth
After the less-than-fantastic book that was Allegiant, I am SO GLAD Veronica Roth wrote this. It made me remember why I loved Divergent and Insurgent so much.
Even if I did spend most of it going “this person’s dead, this person’s dead, that one is still alive, but crippled, oh look, another dead person…”

7. Pivot Point, by Kasie West
Both books. Seriously loved these.

8. The One, by Kiera Cass
Great ending for the series. Seriously, fantastic.

9. Mind Games, by Kiersten White
Loved it. Seriously. I’ve loved all of Kiersten White’s books.

10. The Dark World, by Cara Lynn Shultz
I loved Spellbound and Spellcaster, so naturally I bought this as soon as I could..
I loved it!!

And because there is NO WAY I am sticking with 10, here are some more…

11. Half Bad, by Sally Green
ASDFGHJHGF! Amazing.

12. The Immortal Rules, by Julie Kagawa
Another book I’d been meaning to read this for years. And again, I was not disappointed.

13. Blue Lily, Lily Blue, by Maggie Stiefvater
Yes, two Maggie Stiefvater books, but they were both JUST SO GOOD!!

14. Disruption, by Jessica Shirvington
I can’t believe it took me so long to getting around to reading this author. This book was amazing, as was its sequel.

15. Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang
There is one reason this is so far down the list is because I only finished it on Sunday.
Oh my goodness, I TOTALLY get why people love this book.

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.

Review: If I Stay

Tags

Book Review, Gayle Forman, If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman

Synopsis: Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now.
I sit up as much as I can.
And I listen.

Stay, he says.

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it’s the only one that matters.

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

How I got this book: Borrowed from eLibrary (audiobook)

My Thoughts:

Having listened to this book several months ago, I have been trying since then to write this review.
Needless to say, all attempts so far have been quite unsuccessful.

How do I describe my thoughts about this book?

It was amazing. It really was. I don’t usually read contemporary, but I was convinced to read this by the movie trailer.

I don’t know, I always seem to want books that are likely to rip my heart out.

Which this one did.

In a good way.

Audio Thoughts:

Occasionally the story was interrupted by some musical interlude-thing. I wouldn’t have minded so much, except that it didn’t happen when there was supposed to be a break in the story…it was like starting a new paragraph mid-sentence…it was kind of annoying. Luckily it didn’t happen often and other than that, the audio was enjoyable.

Movie Thoughts:

That is all.

Final Opinion:

Good book. Good audio. Good movie.

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

Abigail Haas, Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, Dangerous Boys, Gameboard of the Gods, Gayle Forman, Hex Hall, If I Stay, John Green, Legend, Marie Lu, Morganville Vampires, Rachel Caine, Rachel Hawkins, Richelle Mead, Stephen King, Sweet Evil, The Fault in our Stars, To read or not to read, Top Ten Tuesday, Under the Dome, Wendy Higgins

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Books I’m not sure I want to read

1. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
Or anything John Green really…I’m tempted (as I am by any book that a lot of people are reading), but at the same time, I’m not really into realistic fiction…and I’m kinda proud of the fact that I haven’t read John Green.

2. Sweet Evil, by Wendy Higgins
I started listening to the audiobook, but the narrator had an annoying voice, so I never finished it. My sister has read the series, though, and she loved it.

3. Game board of the Gods, by Richelle Mead
I read the first few pages while in the bookshop, and I didn’t love it straight away. So I might read it some time when I don’t have a bajillion other books to read.

4. The Morganville Vampires, by Rachel Caine
I’ve heard a lot of good things about this series, but there’s 15 books…that’s a lot.

5. Dangerous Boys, by Abigail Haas
I read Dangerous Girls, and while I did enjoy it, there is no denying the fact that it freaked me out.
It’s weird, because I always want to read the creepy books, and then I regret reading them when I finish them, because they freak me out too much.

6. Under the Dome, by Stephen King
I’ve seen a couple of episodes of the tv show, and I’ve enjoyed it…but again, do I want to read it and face the lack of sleep that it almost sure to follow?

And, that’s it for the books I’m not sure about…however, because I still want to make it to ten, here are my Top Ten Books I wasn’t sure I wanted to read, but am glad I did:

7. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
I only read it because I saw a trailer for the movie, and it looked interesting. I don’t usually read contemporary, but I’m glad I read this one.

8. Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins
This was a few years ago, but I saw all 3 books in the shop at once one time, and I thought about it, and I thought about it some more…and I didn’t buy them.
By the time I changed my mind and went back for them, they were gone.
I was kicking myself for months.
Anyway, eventually they showed up again, so I bought them one at a time. And I loved them.

9. City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare
I’ll be honest, the cover was what put me off this book. But eventually I discovered what it was about, read the first chapter online, and then bought the book. I quite enjoyed the rest of the books in the series.

10. Legend, by Marie Lu
Another book who’s cover put me off, and another one that I decided to read once I discovered what it was about.
This was a great series.

This Week in Books

Tags

Anna Banks, Beth Crowley, Gayle Forman, If I Stay, Lucy Saxon, Of Poseidon, Porcelain Heart, Richelle Mead, Silver Shadows, Take Back the Skies, This Week's Adventures

Silver Shadows Book Trailer 3:

Conditioning Tape 6, came out on Tuesday:

Teaser trailer 3, online on Thursday:

Also. if this tweet gets retweeted 5000 times, we get another 2 chapters!!!

ASDFGHJKL

Beth Crowley:

You can now pre-order Beth Crowley’s album ‘Porcelain Heart’ from her website.

I am SO EXCITED for this thing.

Books Read:

Of Poseidon, by Anna Banks
You can read my review of this here.

Take Back the Skies, by Lucy Saxon
You can read my review of this here.

If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
Starting this audiobook at midnight was probably not the brightest of ideas, seeing as there wasn’t a single good spot to stop listening…as a result, I finished the audio at 4:30 this morning, after spending a good deal of time crying my eyes out.