How Book Series Made Me Their Bitch

It's official, book series have made me their bitch and it's past the point of no return! There is no undoing it and no going back. I must admit defeat and surrender to the fact that series now own me. They swoop in with their promise of awesome characters and storylines that I can love and follow for years to come. Their pretty covers lure me in and I go out and instabuy every book in the series so far. I start new series with excitement and wonder, with the hope that I just stumbled onto something incredible. And then, a lot of the time, by the time the next book is out I have forgotten all about the series. 

I think the discussion about series we have started and not finished is one that has been done so many times. But, I'm beginning to realise I have a real problem and it's about time I did something about it. Hopefully confessing my series fiction problems might actually get me to finally do something about it. This year alone I have started 16 book series. That's kind of scary, especially if I had ended up committing myself to all of them. How would I ever find the time? Luckily, some were ones I could binge read together as the whole series were out and others were so awful that I abandoned them after book one. 

But, what about the others? The ones I want to continue and now need to look out for the sequel. I have a horrid memory, I don't remember all the little details in books and every minor plot point. I pretty much have to go back and reread every book in the series so that I am caught up on everything. That's fine in a book series that has 2 to 3 books, but what about those with 5 or above. Then it's just crazy and I have to commit about two weeks to getting through them all. If I want to complete the series then I need to go back and do that and that's such a huge time commitment spent on books that I've already read. Am I the only one who has this problem or does anyone else need to reread books by the time the sequel is out?

All the series I need to finish! 

So how do I sort out my series problem, I really don't know at this point. In the last four years I have been keeping track of the books I read using Shelfari and Goodreads. In that time I have actually started 106 book series, but only completed a not-so-grand total of 25 series. That's pretty poor. But, in my defence, a lot of those series turned out to be rubbish and I wouldn't want to finish them. But quite a lot of them are ones I loved when I read them, and ones I always had the intention of finishing. So why haven't I? Especially when a lot of them have all the books published? Simple answer, I forget or just don't have the time or patience to go back and reread the other books.

So, some of the series I still need to finish:

    

   

The Gallagher Girls was a lot of fun and I believe I got four or five books in before I had to wait for a release. But by the time the last book released I had forgotten everything. Going back and reading all of the books in a binge just seemed like so much work, so I still haven't got to it. 

Breathe is a duology and the sequel has been out for quite some time. It would only take me a few days to reread and finish the last book, so I am not even sure why I have put this off. The Wicked series is one I remember finding utterly strange and yet utterly compelling at the same time. Think I would like to finish that series at some point.

A Song of Ice and Fire is one I want to read as I adore the series so much. But, after one book, I got distracted and started something else. Now I am just put off by the book lengths and how much time it would take me to read them.

Starcrossed, I have one book to go but will need to reread. I seem to have a problem with wasting time rereading books at the moment so this is why I have yet to get to it. Same goes for the Sky Chasers and Killables series. 

The Selection is a hard one because, although I enjoyed the first two books, I had a lot of problems with it. I didn't like the main character and didn't think highly of the main love interest. I know her and Maxon will end up together but I don't really care enough to get to the book yet and have to deal with that. 

Recent series I have fallen in love with and committed to continuing:

These are the series that I have started within the last 7 months and they are the ones I am really excited to continue with. I have fallen in love with them all and know I will be eagerly awaiting the new releases for all these series. The waiting will kill me but the books are good enough that I will be more than happy to reread them all in preparation.The Lunar Chronicles was one that was hard for me, I really enjoyed Cinder but admit that the hype ruined that one for me a bit. I am now halfway through Scarlet and I'm completely obsessed! To All The Boys blew me away and that ending just left me begging to get my hands on the sequel as soon as possible. These Broken Stars!!!! I mean, who doesn't want to continue that one? Uninvited was intriguing but I have a lot of questions that need to be answered in book two, plus the romance was swoon worthy for me. ALIENATED!!! Oh, I would kill to get Invaded... I don't even think I am joking. 

So, even though I say I want a solution to my problem, I still have a bunch of series that I plan to start. A lot of them are ones I already own and so I know that I need to make them a priority to get to. I am going to put some below and I'd love your opinions on which ones you would recommend I start with? Which series will make me love it so much that I won't mind waiting for the next instalment?

Series I plan to start:

   

   

   

   

Which one would you recommend? 

I am hoping to make a dent in more book series soon. I am hoping to finish off more series that I have fallen in love with but have just forgotten about. I need to make sure I only start series that I am really and truly willing to commit too. I know I should probably stop starting new series but it's an addiction, I can't help myself. J. K. Rowling is clearly to blame, she gave me the most amazing, beautiful, magical world ever and filled it with unforgettable characters. How could I not spend the rest of my life trying to find that again? 

Me when J.K. ended the Harry Potter series:

And I've been searching for a new one ever since!

So fellow readers and bloggers, please tell me that book series have slowly taken over your life and tbr shelf. Please tell me I am not the only one with so many book series left to finish. And, even if you lie, please tell me I am not crazy for continuing to start new ones.

One chance to win a Kindle Fire HDX, to enter go here.

You can also enter my 1,000 Bloglovin followers giveaway below. For full details go here.

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Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas: Review 5/5
Discussion: Sharing is Caring - Blogger Love
Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Friendship
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West: Review 5/5
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: How I Live Now Movie Review
Five Friday Favourites: Not-So-Favourite Dystopians 

Signed, Skye Harper by Carol Lynch Williams: Review

Title: Signed, Skye Harper
Author: Carol Lynch Williams
Publisher: Paula Wiseman Books
Buy This Book: Amazon / Book Depository

In trying to reunite with her mother, Winston discovers the many meanings of family and finds friendship in an unexpected place in this coming-of-age novel from the author of Waiting, which Kirkus Reviews, in a starred review, called "exceptional" and Glimpse, which Booklist called "gripping."
Life is just fine for fourteen-year-old Winston. She loves her dog, Thelma, and although she never knew her dad, and her mom left ten years ago in search of Hollywood fame, Winston has family with Nanny, who is in her forties, and that doesn't even make her old. But a "just fine" life gets a lot more exciting when a letter arrives from Skye Harper, aka Judith Fletcher, aka Winston’s mother. She needs help, and Nanny says the best way to give it is to take a cross-country road trip—in a "borrowed" motor home—to go find Mama once and for all. Winston’s not so sure about this plan, but with a cute stowaway named Steve along for company and an adventure on the horizon, this is sure to be a summer to remember.

I wasn't sure about downloading the eARC of this because the character was fourteen and I worried she might be too young. But, the cover showed more adult looking characters and so I was hopeful she would be a mature fourteen-year-old. Sadly, she was actually a really immature character and she acted, sounded and behaved like someone who was a lot younger most of the time. For a large portion of the novel she was acting younger than my eleven year old cousin, which made this really hard for me to read.

The chapters in this are so short and that didn't work for me. It has 183 chapters in a book that is only 304 pages long, that's not even 2 pages a chapter. I felt like it never let you get sucked into the story, the chapter would quickly end and break up the story. I just felt like this was really unnecessary and didn't really work with the story, at least not for me.

My other problem was that this book is set in the 70's but there's no indication of that in the blurb or cover photo. That might have been the intention but I found that really irritating. There's also very few indications in the book, it's just suddenly mentioned and then loads of references are made to the Olympics. Once I figured out which Olympics they were talking about, it started to make sense why the author had picked that year to set it in. But, I honestly felt like there should have been more indications of the time setting then just some little references to an Olympic athlete. 

I never connected to Winston, or Nannny or Steve. I never felt like I fully got to know and understand them all. Nanny's only forty but she certainly acts like she could be in her sixties or seventies at times. Steve was a typical boy for most of the book, but I never really felt anything towards him at all. And Winston was just too young for me, she talked young and acted young. I felt this book shouldn't have been marketed as young adult, for me it feels like a Middle Grade book.

The ending wraps the whole story up far too nicely. It's also obvious what is going to happen to characters and where they will be at the end of the story. Overall, it's a quick and easy read but for me it wasn't a young adult book and I felt disconnected from the story and the characters the whole time I was reading it. I think it could appeal to a younger reader but it just didn't work for me. 

2/5 Butterflies

I just didn't end up caring about any of the characters or where the story was going. For me, this isn't a young adult book and shouldn't be marketed as one; it feels far too young. I felt the chapters were unnecessarily short, most chapters were barely two pages, some were just a few lines. 

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.

My Weekly Book Haul: 24/05/2014

Friday Finds is something that was started over on ShouldBeReading and Stacking the Shelves over at TyngaReviews, I am in love with all of these as I love finding other blogs to follow and books to read through these! So check them all out and see what you find, Stacking the Shelves has a lot of participants as well which is great. This is basically a way for me to show what books I have received, borrowed or bought each week. All book covers and their summary come from back of book or Goodreads.

I have actually had the greatest week! My cousin finally had her baby on Wednesday and I was beyond excited for her. It's the closest I'll be getting to a niece or nephew for quite some time. She had a girl, like I knew she would, and she ended up naming her Teaira, Tia for short, which is just lovely. She's a little cutie but my cousin doesn't like the idea of pics of the baby being online so I won't post any.

I've been working a lot and getting pretty fed up. It's just a bit slow at work at the minute and I wish there was more going on. I love being kept busy and having a lot to do. I need more responsibilities or something as I am going a little crazy. 

A bad week reading wise, didn't get much reading done. I did start the Lunar Chronicles finally and really enjoyed it. The hype ruined it a bit as I was expecting to be blown away and I wasn't. I love the writing and the characters but it just didn't wow me for some reason. I think my expectations were too high or something. Can't wait to continue the series though. 

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy #3)

It’s springtime at St. Vladimir’s Academy and Rose is close to graduation, but since making her first Strigoi kills, things haven’t felt quite right. She’s having dark thoughts, behaving erratically, and worst of all... might be seeing ghosts.
Consumed by her forbidden love with her tutor Dimitri and protecting her best friend, the Moroi princess Lissa, Rose is in no state to see the deadly threat that will change her entire world—and make her choose between the two people she loves most.

Determined to start this series as soon as I can so I purchased book 3 to try and give myself the push I need to get to it. 

The Assassins Blade by Sarah J. Maas

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

Help! Do you read that before or after book 1?

 

The Runaway King & The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielson (Ascendance Trilogy #2 & #3)

GAMES OF THRONES for a younger audience. If you like the danger and sword-fighting of MERLIN, you'll love this! Jaron is now in his rightful place as king, but he knows that with traitors in his castle, and enemies at the borders, he is far from safe. He must go on a journey to discover the truth behind his family's murder. The trick will be coming back alive.

How to Keep a Boy as a Pet by Diane Messidoro

The Official Truth about dating the male human species!
Can taming a gorgeous boy really be as easy as walking a dog?
Circe Shaw is on a mission. She must transform into a fabulously sophisticated journalist and discover the amazing scientific truth about boys. Urgently.
But life is beyond complicated. Circe has to deal with a poisonous rival, her mum’s annoying ‘just friends’ men and her own Dark Past.
Can Circe’s daring investigation really teach her the facts of love? 
Will it help her finally get a boyfriend? 
Or will it break her heart…?

Taken by David Massey

A young crew of five are toughing it out together, sailing around the world on a gruelling charity challenge. They are used to being pushed to the limit, but nothing could have prepared them for being kidnapped.
When they are taken hostage by a notorious warlord and his band of child soldiers, the trip of a lifetime turns into a one-way journey into the heart of the African jungle.
When hope is all you have, survival is all you can fight for...

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Jude and her brother, Noah, are incredibly close twins. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude surfs and cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and divisive ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as an unpredictable new mentor. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.  
This radiant, fully alive, sometimes very funny novel from the critically acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once. 

I absolutely loved The Sky is Everywhere so I was beyond

Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios

Forced to obey her master.
Compelled to help her enemy.
Determined to free herself. 
Nalia is a jinni of tremendous ancient power, the only survivor of a coup that killed nearly everyone she loved. Stuffed into a bottle and sold by a slave trader, she’s now in hiding on the dark caravan, the lucrative jinni slave trade between Arjinna and Earth, where jinn are forced to grant wishes and obey their human masters’ every command. She’d give almost anything to be free of the golden shackles that bind her to Malek, her handsome, cruel master, and his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.
Enter Raif, the enigmatic leader of Arjinna’s revolution and Nalia’s sworn enemy. He promises to free Nalia from her master so that she can return to her ravaged homeland and free her imprisoned brother—all for an unbearably high price. Nalia’s not sure she can trust him, but Raif’s her only hope of escape. With her enemies on the hunt, Earth has become more perilous than ever for Nalia. There’s just one catch: for Raif’s unbinding magic to work, Nalia must gain possession of her bottle…and convince the dangerously persuasive Malek that she truly loves him. Battling a dark past and harboring a terrible secret, Nalia soon realizes her freedom may come at a price too terrible to pay: but how far is she willing to go for it?
Inspired by Arabian Nights, EXQUISITE CAPTIVE brings to life a deliciously seductive world where a wish can be a curse and shadows are sometimes safer than the light.

Love the cover and the premise too. 

Forbidden by Kimberley Griffiths Little

A sweeping, epic saga of romance and hardship, set against the dramatic backdrop of ancient Mesopotamia—perfect for fans of Cleopatra's Moon or the adult bestseller The Red Tent.
In the unforgiving Mesopotamian desert where Jayden’s tribe lives, betrothal celebrations abound, and tonight it is Jayden’s turn to be honored. But while this union with Horeb, the son of her tribe’s leader, will bring a life of riches and restore her family’s position within the tribe, it will come at the price of Jayden’s heart.
Then a shadowy boy from the Southern Lands appears. Handsome and mysterious, Kadesh fills Jayden’s heart with a passion she never knew possible. But with Horeb’s increasingly violent threats haunting Jayden’s every move, she knows she must find a way to escape—or die trying.
With a forbidden romance blossoming in her heart and her family’s survival on the line, Jayden must embark on a deadly journey to save the ones she loves—and find a true love for herself.
Set against the brilliant backdrop of the sprawling desert, the story of Jayden and Kadesh will leave readers absolutely breathless as they defy the odds and risk it all to be together.

I went a little crazy on EW! 

One chance to win a Kindle Fire HDX, to enter go here.

You can also enter my 1,000 Bloglovin followers giveaway below. For full details go here.

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Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas: Review 5/5
Discussion: Sharing is Caring - Blogger Love
Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Friendship
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West: Review 5/5
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: How I Live Now Movie Review
Five Friday Favourites: Not-So-Favourite Dystopians