May Faves & June TBR

Here's what we loved in May and what is on the top of our TBR piles for June! Tell us your faves of May below! Tell us what you plan to read in June!

MAY FAVORITES

Lauren's Pick

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

Jamie's Pick

Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee -- if you love historical fiction you MUST read this one!!

Jana's Pick



The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye - This book is stunning. The descriptions of historic St. Petersburg had me captivated, and the unique storyline had me flipping pages as quickly as I could! I loved it!

Daisy's Pick




The Way Back to You by Michelle Andreani and Mindi Scott - This was just a beautiful story about the aftermath of losing someone and nit how to recover from that, but learning how to accept that it hurts. 

ON OUR JUNE TBR


Lauren's Pick

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

(Jana seconds this choice!)

Jamie's Pick 

Ivory & Bone by Julie Eshbaugh -- so excited to pick this prehistoric fantasy up soon!!

(Jana is reading this now, and it's super interesting!)

Jana's Pick

Unplugged by Donna Freitas - I'm on the blog tour for this book, and it sounds so good! I've really been in the mood for a dystopia lately.

Daisy's Pick

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas - So everybody probably read this already, but they messed up my preorder and hopefully it will be waiting for me when I get home from vacation, because I NEED THIS BOOK.

(You're not alone, Daisy! Jana hasn't had time to read this yet either!)

What books are your faves of May? On the top of your TBR for June??

Book Tour: The Sleeping Prince by Melinda Salisbury + Giveaway

Hi TB&TB readers! I thought I'd mix things up today and do a spotlight post for a good friend who is hosting a book tour for none other than Melinda Salisbury! You might've heard of her due to her first well received novel, The Sin Eater's Daughter. Today I am posting all the juicy details about the sequel, The Sleeping Prince, which was released just yesterday! Enjoy!

Melinda Salisbury lives by the sea, somewhere in the south of England. As a child she genuinely thought Ronald Dahl’s Matilda was her biography, in part helped by her grandfather often mistakenly calling her Matilda, and the local library having a pretty cavalier attitude to the books she borrowed. Sadly she never manifested telekinetic powers. She likes to travel, and have adventures. She also likes medieval castles, non-medieval aquariums, Richard III, and all things Scandinavian. The Sin Eater’s Daughter is her first novel, and will be published by Scholastic in 2015. She is represented by the amazing Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge and White. She tweets. A lot.

You can find her at the links below!

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest

Title: The Sleeping Prince

Author: Melinda Salisbury
Published Date: May 31, 2016
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover | Paperback | eBook
Find It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Goodreads

Return to the darkly beautiful world of The Sin Eater's Daughter with a sequel that will leave you awed, terrified... and desperate for more.

Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin's life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep.

When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won't reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help her, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds shatters everything she believed about her world, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom.

Interested yet? I know you are... which is why I'm happy to announce a giveaway! Please use the rafflecopter below to enter to win a finished copy of The Sleeping Prince by Melinda Salisbury!

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

Ten Books We Plan To Put In Our Beach Bag This Summer

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics & info on how to participate, click here!

This week's topic: Beach Reads Week -- top ten great beach reads, ten books I plan to read on the beach, ten beach reads for those who don't like typical *beach reads*, ten authors who are my go to for beach reads, etc.



Lauren's Picks

I decided to pick books I would like to read on the beach. To be honest, I haven't been to the beach in years, but hey... a girl can dream, right? :)

1 -- A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

I've heard so many good things about this book. The best being that it has a solid 10 for the scare factor. I've been reading a lot of horror lately, and when an author finds that balance between old school horror and a captivating plot, then they somehow also provide that spark of creepy... I just can't resist. I heard that this book is all of the above. Why read it on the beach? Because I'd be totally safe and surrounded by families in an open, extremely well lit area (daytime reading only on this one, folks).

2 -- In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of The Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick

I have a confession. I watched this movie before I read the book. I know, I know! #coneofshame

But... I loved the movie and I can't wait to read the book. I can see it now... I'm in my beach chair, sunglasses on, reading... I envision how this book depicts the actual historical event that became the basis for Herman Melville's Moby Dick... then staring out across the ocean, hoping I can just catch a small glimpse of that mysterious massive whale. 

3 -- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

See! I don't just ONLY read horror/sci-fi/dystopia/all things sad! I think this would be the perfect beach read for me because I've read a few of the author's other books and I loved them all. I haven't gotten around to reading this one yet, but I think it would be light-hearted and would give me a chance to smirk a little on the beach while reading. 

4 -- Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

I know... I'm back to sci-fi again, but I do what I want. I simply picked this book as a great beach read for me because it is HUGE. The hardcover edition is 867 pages. The is the newest book by one of my favorite authors, and I don't know of any other humungous books that I could bring to the beach with me that I know I will completely immerse myself in and I'll never leave the beach. 

Jamie's Picks 

I'm planning to have at least a little beach time this summer so here are a couple I plan to be in my beach bag!

5. Wanderlost by Jen Malone: This one looks like such a cute beach read -- travel & romance! YEP. Can't wait to read this one.

6.  The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: I read and loved The Fixer while I read it on my beach vacation LAST YEAR sooo it only seems fitting that I would have the sequel in my beach bag this year because this YA political thriller kept me glued to my beach chair.  Highly rec this series!

7. Your Perfect Life by Liz Fenton: I've had this on my shelf for a little while and I think I'm going to definitely put it in my beach bag for this year! Sounds like a fun adult contemporary about two friends who think each other has a perfect life to be coveted and they end up switching lives a la Freaky Friday or The Change-Up. Looks like good fun!

8.  My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows:  It's a re-imagining of Lady Jane Grey's life. Apparently it's super funny if you like The Princess Bride type humor.  I'm really excited to have a fun romp through some made up history about a real historical figure. 

Daisy's Picks

9. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab: give me a great fantasy and a sunny day and I'll be blissfully happy every time. And Victoria Schwab is awesome, I've yet to read a book by her that I didn't love.

10. Air Awakens by Elise Kostova: people keep telling me this is amazing, so obviously I need to commit to reading it! I love diving into a new world with the sound of waves behind me.

Tell us a book that you plan to throw in your beach bag this year!

A Cocktail & Conversation Time With TB&TB -- GIMME NEW BOOKS PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

Every other Thursday (lies...it's Friday and idk when the last time we did one of these posts but ideally this was the plan) at The Broke & The Bookish is A Cocktail Conversation time. One of the TB&TB members will pose a question to 2-3 of the other members of TB&TB crew about books, life, music, etc and then they'll answer and we can converse about it. So grab a cocktail & cozy up for some conversation. It's 5 o'clock somewhere, friends. 

This week the question is: 

Who is one author who you are just DYING for them to release a new book?

Lauren says...

Ania Ahlborn -- I've read every single one of her horror novels, and I will not stop now. She never fails to creep me out by placing a spin on old school horror. No frills, just thrill.

Ernest Cline -- I loved Ready Player One and Armada, but I need more. I have to more. Where are you, Ernest?

Deborah Harkness -- I loved The All Souls Trilogy she wrote. But that's all we've gotten from her so far. She a well-educated woman with a penchant for writing... and honestly, I need a little more of that in my life.

Julia says...

George R.R. Martin -- I want to know what is going to happen so badly!! And now the TV show is ahead and there are some amazing twists... I just want to see how this weaves into the story the book is telling (which is now different from the TV show). Also Patrick Rothfuss. I love the world he created in the Kingskiller Chronicles, so I want to know as much as possible!

Bridget says...

Gillian Flynn -- I need some more effed up psychological thrillers to devour. Gone Girl came out, what, five years ago?? You can't tell me that she's out of ideas after only three books. I want more!! 

Jamie says...

Jandy Nelson -- The two books she has out are on my all time faves list and I just NEED more from her. I'll Give You The Sun was especially brilliant and I know brilliance probably takes time but OMG THE WAAAAAAIT KILLS ME. I thought I might die between The Sky Is Everywhere and I'll Give You The Sun and I don't even want to look to see how far out the next one is. Time to reread probably! In this industry I feel like books are coming out quicker and quicker and I appreciate that some authors can't write at that pace so this isn't a complaint...just an I LOVE HER BOOKS SO DAMN MUCH AND AM DYING FOR MORE. 

What about you guys??? What authors are you just like, "OMG PLEASE GIMME MORE BOOKS ALREADY!"

Books We Feel Differently About Now That Time Has Passed

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Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed (less love, more love, complicated feelings, indifference, thought it was great in a genre until you became more well read in that genre etc.)

Lauren's Picks

I've decided to go with books that made me fall back in love with the horror genre. When I was younger, I read the popular authors at that time... such as Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Dean Koontz. I was quickly turned off from the genre for several reasons, but more recently I have fallen back in love with all things that go bump in the night. Here are just a few books that rekindled the fire that ghost stories are shared around.

1. The Parasitology Series by Mira Grant -- This series is so very different from most horror series that seem never-ending. These days I thank I greek gods to find a good standalone book, let alone find a solid series comprised of only 3 books that I like. This series packs a punch and will freak you out. In a good way, of course. But you'll still be left wondering what the hell happened. I highly recommend this series for anyone who wants a nicely paced dive into the horror genre.

2. The Deep / The Troop by Nick Cutter -- I placed these 2 books together just so I could include more authors. :) These are both extremely scary books that will keep you up at night. That sounds like a book blurb, right? Well it is so much more than that. I actually had a couple of nightmares that I can truthfully say were cause by reading these books. They are both amazingly written and will haunt you in the daytime. 

3. Seed / The Shuttering / The Neighbors / The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn -- I don't know what it is about this author, but she never ceases to amaze me. She is my #1 favorite horror author and I just can't really praise her books enough. If you think you can handle it, give any of her books a try. I dare you.

Bridget's Picks

I'm going opposite of Lauren for this one. Here are a few books that I liked significantly less the second (or third, or fourth) time around:

4. The Hunger Games Series -- When I was first reading them, I was utterly engrossed. I devoured them incredibly fast and for the most part didn't really stop to think about the less great things about the story. One of the things that bothers me (more) now more than it did during my initial read-through of the series is the ridiculous love triangle—not that it didn't bother me then, but it's even more irksome now, to the point where I don't see myself rereading them due to this. Divergent falls in the same category—I hate that these strong female leads are reduced to the prize for one guy or another to win. Does that ever happen to male leads? NO. (Or at least it's not nearly as likely.)

5. Most of Dean Koontz's Books -- I've been in denial about this for a long time. Some of Dean Koontz's novels are still some of my favorite books of all time: Watchers, Lightning, and Strangers are three books that I still love. But after reading more of them, it's clear that they mostly follow pretty much the exact same pattern: rugged loner guy OR strong independent woman discovers something that might or might not be supernatural. He/she teams up with a strong independent woman OR a rugged loner guy and either a preternaturally intelligent child or possibly a dog to defeat the dark power. They always do, and the man realizes that he needs the woman in his life and vice versa, despite their previous loner/strong and independent statuses. I've pretty much given up on reading any new Dean Koontz because they're almost uniformly terrible, but you can pry my old standards from my cold, dead hands.

Julia's Picks

6. The Outsiders by SE Hinton -- I adored this book when I read it at 13, and I loved it more reading it aloud to my sister a few years later. But when I went back and read it in college, it didn’t have the same spark for me. I still thought it was a great book, but I loved it more in a nostalgic way then how it made me feel.

7. Books by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss -- Back when I was new into Romance, I read her entire backlist. And I mean ALL of it. But as the romance tropes have changed into a more modern aesthetic, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy these as much as I did the first go round. They are more I like them for how they introduced me to the genre as oppose to ones I would recommend that people read who are trying to get into the genre.


Jamie's Picks

8. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater -- As I was reading this book I was liking it but something just wasn't really clicking. I was REALLY stressed because it was like right before my wedding sooo I probably should have been reading something a little bit lighter to suit that mood. As time went on and I actually THOUGHT about this book I found myself really loving it even more as time went on so much so that I finally started re-reading bits and pieces of it and feel like my 3 star rating I gave it was NOT at all representative of what I really felt about it -- I was stressed and really should have been something that required less of me.

9. Wither by Lauren DeStefano -- I was OBSESSED with this book. So obsessed. I read it VERY early on in my blogging career as an ARC and I just adooooored it especially as it was one of the few dystopian type books I'd ever read. I read the second one and devoured that. I couldn't WAIT for the 3rd. And then I just found myself not moving on to it when it finally came out. I got distracted with all the new books and recently tried to reread it so I could finally finish the trilogy and I just....wasn't as into it. I think it was still very good but maybe not so much what I want to read these days? But at the time...OH MAN..it was looking to be an all time fave.

10. Landline by Rainbow Rowell -- I REALLY loved this one when it came out. It made me think a lot about relationships and stuff, and I'm not saying I dislike it or anything at all, but I read a book a bit after it called After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid that made me think about a lot of the same things and themes and I just loooooooved that one so much more that maybe my feelings towards this one decreased a little bit? Like I still love Landline for what it was but I feel like now After I Do is the one I go around recommending whereas the few months before when I had just read Landline in its place when I wanted to recommend  a great book about marriage and relationships. So it's not like I liked it less? I just thought the other book did it better.


Tell us the books you feel differently about!

Ten Books We Picked Up On A Whim

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics & info on how to participate, click here!

Today's topic is: Ten Books I Picked Up On A Whim (however you decide to interpret that (bought or read or something else) -- I know most people read based on recommendation but we want to know those books you picked up without really hearing about or knowing much about!)

Jana's Picks

I LOVE randomly discovering books on my own. I read a lot of book based on reviews and buzz, so when I find a book I love all on my own it's like I found gold during a treasure hunt. I wish I could do this more often, I just review so many books and receive so many from publishers that unless I read something published before 2009 I pretty much know what I'm getting into. That's not to say I don't LOVE receiving and reviewing new books. Sometimes it's just fun to dust a few oldies off my shelves that I found before I started blogging. Anyway, on to my picks!

1. Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson: All I knew was that it was set in Italy (my one true love) and there was a broken heart in there. I'd never read a review or knew anyone who had read it. I just found it and wanted it and ended up loving it!

2. The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall: Spies and romance. That's all I knew. Plus, it was a debut and those always end up on my radar because I host the Debut Author Challenge on my own blog. This ended up being one of my favorite novels, and I had heard nothing about it.

3. Love, Lucy by April Lindner: This is another Italy situation. lol. I was SO excited about this book and I LOVED it.

4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer: I received Cinder for review and read it pretty much immediately because I was a brand new blogger and had received hardly any review books. All I knew was Cinderella and cyborg. Again, I had not read one review and I honestly thought I would hate it because sci-fi was so not my thing. All these years later, The Lunar Chronicles is my favorite series.



Jamie's Picks

5.  Losing The Light by Andrea Dunlop: I randomly was scrolling through Edelweiss and saw this for review. I hadn't heard anything about it but it sounded like something I might like so I downloaded it. Then I devoured it and stayed up wayyy too late. I'm glad I downloaded it on a whim!

6. With Every Breath by Lia Riley: This is a case of where picking something up on a whim DID NOT work for me. I was really craving a NA romance (which I'm really picky about) and this one sounded REALLY good to me. I don't follow much of what's hot in NA because I basically just read based on NA recced TO ME or from people I super trust who are raving about a NA book. But I was like HMMM romance + travel? YES. I figured I would give it a chance. However, I reallyyyyy didn't like this book. Ah well, you win some and you lose some. HOWEVER...I probably need to stop picking up NA romances on a whim since I'm so picky. 

7. Wytches by Scott Snyder: I kept passing this at the library when it was on the new items shelf and I was finally deciding I wanted to give comics a try so I picked it up on a whim after not hearing anything about it even though I had many more comics on my TBR that I had heard about from a bunch of people. However, once I read what it was about I was just like "what do I have to lose?" I ended up really liking it..not loving it..but liking and really looking forward to the next volume!



Lauren's Picks

8. The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon: I just snatched this one off a shelf at Target one day. I think I barely even skimmed the back cover description of the book. This book ended up being one of the creepiest books I've laid eyes on. I can't wait to read the author's next book, The Night Sister.

9. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell: I've sang Rainbow Rowell's praises before, I this is just book was so far from my usual genre, you couldn't poke it with a 10 foot pole. I don't even know why I bought it, besides it being on sale. I told the boyfriend to pick out a book for me one night, as I have many times, and low and behold -- this was one that he picked. I am still glad he picked it. I loved it and it led me to read even more books by the author.

10. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer: Yet another book bought on my kindle for no real reason. I don't think I even read the summary on this one. And wow. I absolutely loved it. I loved all the characters. I loved the world they lived in. I love the author. Yes. I went there.


Tell us what books you picked up on a whim!

The "life/work/reading" balancing act

I used to find it strange when someone said that their personal reading time suffered because of school, or work, or social life. I always found time to read. Always. Even if it was just for those few minutes before falling asleep. I managed to do that through college, wedding/marriage and a couple different jobs.

Now I work in editing. I literally correct grammar and spelling for a living. For 40+ hours a week I scrutinize ads and listings, looking for mistakes. It’s a great job, I actually really enjoy it! However… for the first time in my life, my reading has suffered.

I settle down, open a book… and start looking for errors. Not on purpose! It’s all habit now. I find that my reading speed is slower than what it used to be. I’m used to reading slowly now, scanning for mistakes.  Even worse, finding mistakes in published pieces! I understand that mistakes happen. (I work in editing/publishing for heaven’s sake. I understand mistakes happen!) But once I find a mistake I get thrown out of the world I was trying to disappear into. I complain to my husband and usually just get a blank stare back. Reading is easy for him, incorrect punctuation and improper grammar don’t bother him in the least.

The solution? (Well, not exactly a solution, but a happy alternative.) AUDIOBOOKS. I’ve always enjoyed them, but now they’re a lifeline. Within the first week of my job I learned something absolutely delightful: My coworkers are audiobook junkies. I will never run out of books to listen to! We have a whole library of audiobooks here at work. We are even allowed to listen to them while working! I have one ear bud in 90% of the work day, listening to books and music. My coworkers are the same. It’s seriously a dream job. (Not to mention that working with such bookish people is a delight in and of itself.)

Can anyone relate? What are your best tricks to continue to enjoy reading? Share in the comments below!