Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

Sunday, June 30, 2019

17 comments

End of June already?  How in the world did we get here so fast? I guess it's time to take a deep look at the books I read so far (without freaking out)!   I was here thinking of what the best way to write this post when I came across the Mid-Year-Freak-Out-Book-Tag! No, I wasn't tagged, but hey, I was never shy and I'm not about to start now...

As far as I can tell, the #midyearfreakoutbooktag was originally created by booktubers "Read Like Wildfire" and Earl Grey Books , but I was not able to locate one of them on YouTube.

BEST BOOK you've read so far in 2019?

This was the first book I read from Blake Crouch and it blew my mind away!
You can read my full review here .

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

BEST SEQUEL you've read so far in 2019?

 Without a doubt that would be #ACOMAF by Sarah J. Maas!  If you haven't read this series, I suggest you run (don't walk) to the nearest library to grab it!  You're still here?

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

NEW RELEASE you haven't read yet but want to?

I loved The Night Circus so I'm really looking forward to reading The Starless Sea!
Ok, I know that this book won't be released till later in the year, but if I could only get an Advance Review Copy...

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Most ANTICIPATED RELEASE for the second half of 2019?

I already pre-ordered Leigh Bardugo's new book, Ninth House and I have a feeling I will be waiting by my door on the day of the delivery 🖤

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT?

Ok, I'm probably the only person that might think that, but I DNF Caraval 😟
It just didn't do it for me.

BIGGEST SURPRISE?

The Hype is real! If you ever wished you could combine Star Trek with a sparkle of Guardians of the Galaxy, look no further.  Aurora Rising has it all! 

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Favorite NEW to you AUTHOR?

I just recently read Pachinko for my Book Club and it was, quite simply, one the most memorable books I have ever read!  Min Jin Lee became a favorite!

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Newest FICTIONAL CRUSH?

Daxton Hughes from Meet Cute by Helena Hunting.  I'd love to be the girl sharing that milkshake with him (among other things)...

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Newest FAVORITE CHARACTER?

Sixteen-year-old Bri! She turns her anger into lyrics and uses her voice to tell everyone about the injustices of the world we all live in...That's what  I call #GIRLPOWER !

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Book that made you CRY?

When I finished reading Speak No Evil, I wanted to shout, or maybe go out for a walk, or get drunk, but instead, I just sobbed on the couch.  How can such a short novel (215 pages) pack such an emotional punch?  You need to read it yourself and let me know what you think...

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Book that made you HAPPY?

The Music Shop is an irresistible love story about two very different people and the music that brings them together.  A treasure to be cherished by all music and book lovers! 

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Favorite Book-To-Movie ADAPTATION you saw this year?

Written with the funny & intelligent lines that are common in all Gaiman’s novels, except this one was written with Terry Pratchett, and the result is a satirical novel that makes you keep thinking how crazy some of the lines sound, because they actually make sense...

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Favorite REVIEW you've written this year?

That's a tough question.  I like every review I write.  I do it because I enjoy it, so it's not an obligation, it's my opinion.  I'm not sure I can choose an all-time favorite, but maybe the one that touched me the most, which was Recursion by Blake Crouch.

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Most BEAUTIFUL BOOK you've bought so far this year?

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

What BOOKS do you need to READ by the end of this year?

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black and Storm and Fury by Jennifer L Armentrout and
SO many others that I find difficult to name all!

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

There you have it.  I'm not going to tag anyone so feel free to #TAG yourself, and let me know if any of these books made to your list as well! 

✌🏼

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Recursion by Blake Crouch

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Friday, June 21, 2019

9 comments

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Recursion by Blake Crouch

Release date: June 11th, 2019

Genre:  Sci-Fi / Thriller

Published by Penguin Random House Audio

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My Goodreads Rating

BOOK BLURB:

Barry Sutton is driving home from another long shift as an NYPD detective when the call comes in. A woman is threatening to commit suicide, and someone’s got to try to talk her down. Only as he stands on the rooftop, mere inches away from her, does he realize that the woman is infected with False Memory Syndrome, a mysterious disease that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. When Barry is unable to save her, he’s rocked to his core–not only by her death but the fear that he’s been exposed to this devastating illness.

Helena Smith is a brilliant but frustrated neuroscientist. If she could only get the funding, she’s sure she could build the ambitious device she’s long imagined–one that would allow people to preserve their most intense memories and relive them whenever they want. So when a billionaire entrepreneur offers to bankroll her project, she jumps at the opportunity–even if there are some strange conditions attached.

As Helena’s efforts yield stunning results, Barry investigates the mystery behind the woman he failed to save. He finds himself on a journey as astonishing as it is terrifying, ultimately revealing the true danger posed by Helena’s invention–and a plot that could bring about the end of reality as we know it.

Weaving together Barry’s story and Helena’s in ways even the savviest reader will never guess, Recurson is a brilliant science fiction thriller about time, memory, and the illusion of the present, built on our inability to escape the flashbulb moments that define us.


MY THOUGHTS:

If you haven’t read Blake Crouch’s latest book yet, I have no doubt that once you do, it will be the only thing you’ll want to talk about for DAYS!!!
The book synopsis makes you believe that there’s a new disease, FMS (False Memory Syndrome), except, FMS doesn’t even scratch the surface of everything this story throws at you.  It’s mind-twisting and it left me doubting reality as I know it.  I remember feeling this way when I watched Inception, except I was never quite satisfied at the end of that movie…but Recursion was EXCEPTIONAL!!!

Sorry, I’m rambling...

  I’m a sci-fi fan and even though the whole concept of time-travel has been explored in a lot of books and movies, Crouch was able to explore a new angle, one that merged actual scientific advances into a fictitious reality that might not be too far from the near future.
His narrative is fast-paced, leaving the reader with no time to think twice when turning the pages.  To make it even more interesting, there’s also a love story ♥.

“Time is an illusion, a construct made out of human memory. 

There’s no such thing as the past, the present, or the future. 

It’s all happening now.”

  It was a bit hard to keep track of the dates and timelines from the audiobook, but once I started writing down a few important dates, it got a lot easier to follow.  There’s really nothing that I disliked in this book.

“Life with a cheat code isn't life. Our existence isn't something to be engineered or optimized for the avoidance of pain. That's what it is to be human - the beauty and the pain, each meaningless without the other.”

I’m waiting for Recursion to be adapted from book-to-movie so I can place it with the TOP 5 “time-travel” movies :
1. Dr. Who (the original Time Lord)
2. Back to the Future
3. Looper
4. Terminator
5. Inception

CONCLUSION:
If you could go back in time to change an old memory, even though the impact to the timelines might be impossible to predict, would you do it?

via GIPHY

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