Each week, The Broke and The Bookish host the Top Ten Tuesday link-up. This week’s prompt is “Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR”.

1. Dumplin‘ by Julie Murphy
2. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
3. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
4. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
5. Within These Walls by Ania Ahlborn
6. Soundless by Richelle Mead
7. Seed by Ania Ahlborn
8. Winter by Marissa Meyer
9. Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger
10. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Each week, The Broke and the Bookish hosts this book meme, and this week’s prompt is “Top Ten Favorite Heroines From Books.”

Alexia Maccon is a witty and smart character and I love her pragmatic views of the world around her. I am so tickled when she is “put out” by such things as giant mechanical devices or werewolves/vampires fighting that might mussy up her gowns or make her miss tea. These books are funny and witty and page turners. 

Diana Bishop is first introduced to us readers in a library, enjoying her life as she nerds out in academia. What bibliophile wouldn’t fall in love with this character right then and there? The adventures Diana has throughout the series are deep, well written and swoon worthy, at times. I love this series and its the richness of history it gives to the fantasy fiction genre.

Angel Crawford is the heroine of one of the Books, Booze & Bajingo’s past reads. The character growth and development of Angel in the book was phenomenal. We loved how real she is, flawed and relatable. We all found her self deprecation very relatable. Also, this is a unique, intriguing and very clever way to present the zombie monster genre.

Kit Tyler is a herione that I haven’t thought about, in depth anyway, in years. I was obsessed with this book when I was younger. It inspired many an imaginary play time in my youth. I identified with how out of place Kit felt in her new home, filled with Puritan ideals. I loved her strength of character and individuality. Thinking about it now, I want to re-read this book.

Sookie Stackhouse is hands down a badass. I love this series and wish the TV series could have done it justice. She’s strong, independent and not afraid to take care of business, even if that means someone or something has got to go.

Katniss Everdeen may be a cliché pick at this point, but who cares. She is a complex character and I loved the series. She is forced to become this symbol of rebellion when all she wants to do is survive. Everyone thinks they are using her but in the end, she shows them that no one can just treat people that way, not even the “good guys”.

Elphaba, another outcast. I am noticing a trend. But is it a trend in what kind of heroines I like or how often this is a character trope? I really enjoyed the depth and new perspective Maguire gave to this character. 

Stephanie Plum is just a comical, relatable heroine to me. These books make laugh and the action keeps me reading. I really enjoy flawed heroines that struggle with everyday problems, and I find them more endearing.

I love fairy tales, and Cinder breathes fresh life into the character of Cinderella. In this version, she is less concerned about finding her prince as she is trying to save one of her step-sisters and escape from her life. She moves on, in the series, to trying to find her way in this world as both a Lunar (a race from the moon that everyone hates) and a cyborg (which is a lesser human to many). She uses her “weaknesses” as her strengths, and I love that about her.

Harper Blaine is another badass. She is a PI that develops strange powers after a brush with death. She is trying to figure out what this new world means for her and adjust to how much her life is changing beyond her control. She is strong but, at times, not as strong as she’d like to think. I want to read more of this series.

Happy Library Week! I am a HUGE fan of the public library. I read most of my books from the library (because I’m not made of money and have a literary addiction). I even made an infographic that ended up being a love letter to the library, lol. 

So, in honor of Library Week, I thought I’d share with you the top ten books I read from my local library. These books I either found randomly at my library, or waited/requested from them to carry.

Each week, The Broke and the Bookish hosts this book meme, and this week’s prompt is “Ten Fairytale Retellings I’ve Read/Want To Read.”

BOOKS I’VE READ:

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyers – I absolutely love this series and it is the perfect answer to this week’s prompt. The series introduces you to new incarnations of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and her Wolf, Repunzal, and the Wicked Queen from Snow White. I can’t wait to read who we meet next!

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George – This is a different take on the 12 Dancing Princesses fairytale and I absolutely loved it. There are even knitting instructions in the book!

The Child Thief by Brom –  A very dark retelling of Peter Pan. This horror novel is not a light read by any means, but it is a very creative and well written reworking. 

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce – This is a new Red Riding hood story where we follow the sisters Scarlett and Rosie who live a life to hunt the Fenris – werewolves who are attracted to young girls. It’s a good book and I recommend to people who like fairytale retellings.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire – I think every one and their mother is familiar with this retelling of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West’s story.

Fables by Bill Willingham – A world where the fairytales are exiled and forced to live in the real world. This is the series that really got me into comic books and graphic novels.

BOOKS I WANT TO READ:

UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn – This is more about a descendent of the Brothers Grime, Mina Grime, who has to deal with a curse on her family.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier – This is retelling of The Six Swans fairytale.

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter – Possibly an Alice in Wonderland retelling with zombies? The reviews seem mixed.

The Plucker by Brom – Already a fan of The Child Thief, I want to check out this tale of a Jack-in-the-box. 

Each week, The Broke and the Bookish hosts this book meme, and this week’s prompt is “Ten Books Beach Reads." 

THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS.

Each week, The Broke and the Bookish hosts this book meme, and this week’s prompt is “Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List.”

​These aren’t really “new” books, most were published a few years ago. But I curated my list based on ones that are in my “To Be Read” list that either made me think of spring or I just really need to get on the ball and read already.

Each week, The Broke and the Bookish hosts this book meme, and this week’s prompt is “Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015.”

FYI: Technically, Elizabeth is Missing came out last Tuesday, but I’m still putting it in this list!

Each week, The Broke and The Bookish host the Top Ten Tuesday link-up. This week’s prompt is “Ten Finished Series I have YET to finish.”

The All Souls Trilogy • The Seven Realms series • MaddAddam Trilogy
The Night Trilogy • The Need series • The Caledonia Fae series • The Twelve Dancing Princesses series
The Infernal Devices series • The Iron Butterfly series • The Oz series

Each week, The Broke and the Bookish hosts this book meme, and this week’s prompt is “Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters.”

• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• Saga by by Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples (you can read my review of this series on Part Time Monster!)
• The Gigolo Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer
• Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• Drawing in the Dust  by Zoë Klein
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I’ve hit a road block that’s holding me up with moving on from Phase 01. Here’s my update:

PHASE ONE: PLANNING

• Take stock: I need to find LB’s old things in our attic and go through them. Clean up whatever I want to reuse and donate the rest (this is our FINAL baby). Done! I got all the boxes of LB’s baby stuff from the attic and went through them. I’d say about a quarter of it I donated and the rest I washed and have it waiting to be put away.

• Get Organized: Then I need to organize LB’s room to accommodate LB2’s stuff. LB2 will be sleeping in our room for at least the first 6 months, but ultimately we plan to have the two kiddos share a room. Here’s the road block! I ordered some cube shelves from Target and it is setting in its box waiting to be assembled but apparently we’ve lost every single screw driver we own. Mr. LL keeps forgetting to bring home one from work and I’m about to just go buy a new one because it is driving me crazy.

• Sleeping Arrangements: Like I said, LB2 will be in our room at first and I need to figure out if a pack-n-play will fit in there or if we need a bassinet. I’ve determined that a pack-n-play will work just fine, BUT ideally I’d like to have a bassinet in our room for space reasons. However, this will just have to be determined closer to the end of my pregnancy when I see how much money I’ve saved up to buy the pieces we “need” for LB2.

I’m hoping that by September, I can move on to Phase 2.