Author Duos That NEED to Exist. Like, Right Now (Please and Thank You) - Top Ten Tuesday #3

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is "Top Ten Author Duos You'd LOVE To See Write A Book Together". I'm sure there are tons more that would be absolutely AMAZING, but I only came up with five.

1. Susan Dennard and Sarah J. Maas - I know that they started the Starkillers Cycle together (which is awesome!) but it would be amazing if they worked together to write a physical book.

2. Renee Ahdieh and Sabaa Tahir - I met both of them at a signing at BookCon this year, adored both their books (and am eagerly anticipating the sequels!), and feel like they would just make a fabulous writing duo. Honestly, I'd read whatever they write automatically. Even though it would probably kill all my feels. (THE FEELS ARE UNREAL, YOU GUYS.)

3. Marie Lu and Leigh Bardugo - They both are known for some amazing antiheroes, and it would just be interesting (and epic) to see the mastermind they'd come up with together.

4. Rainbow Rowell and John Green - I don't know... They're just both phenomenal contemporary writers and I feel like if they collaborated on something, it would pack triple the punch. Although perhaps the world wouldn't be able to handle the gloriousness of both these writers in one single contemporary novel.

5. J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan - Both these authors wrote series from most of our childhoods. How amazing would it be if they wrote something together!?!?!?!

Something Strange and Deadly Readalong

The readalong is hosted by the Stephanie @ In Wonderland and the other Waterwitch Babes, and will run from October 10 - January 4.

SCHEDULE:
Something Strange and Deadly (October 10 - November 6)
A Darkness Strange and Lovely (November 7 - December 4)
Strange and Ever After (December 5 - January 4)

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If you didn't know this, THE Something Strange and Deadly series is ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES AND SOOZ IS AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AUTHOR AND HUMAN BEING. SO NATURALLY I AM GOING TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS. I AM SO EXCITED AND HOPEFULLY I WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP UP (OR NOT READ TOO FAR AHEAD) I normally don't reread books, but I'll make an exception for this series because <33333333 *flails*

~Alexandra

Making Waves Reading Challenge

The Making Waves Reading Challenge is a challenged hosted by the Waterwitch Babes, and was created by one of the Waterwitches, Carine @ Ceres Books World.

To make it easier for participants because we all have busy schedules, and Nanowrimo is coming up, we have different levels of participation.  Pick whichever level you feel you can accomplish before January 5th.The challenge starts today and ends January 5th (the day Truthwitch is released!).  For the challenge we are asking participants to read any books that can be related to the elements.  For example, there is an elemental name in the title, or the story itself can be linked to an element as outlined below:

Water: a book about pirates or mermaids
Fire: a romance or passionate, dramatic story
Air: a book about angels or dragons
Aether: paranormal read
Void: a murder mystery, or novel with insanity and blood
Earth: a book with farming or with strong links to the land

Obviously there are a lot of books that can be open to interpretation (part of the fun is trying to fit a book into an element!)

The Levels of Participation: 

EARTH - read 1-2 books

The most practical guesstimate of how many books you feel you can read for this challenge!

WATER - read 3-4 books

Clearly you are making waves in your reading schedule, and the Waterwitch Babes are especially proud of you!

AIR - read 5-6 books

You are literally taking off, this is a stellar amount of books to read for this challenge!

FIRE - read 7-8 books

Your fiery passion for reading is most evident!

AETHER - read 9-10 books

It is truly sublime how dedicated a reader you are!

VOID - read 11+ books

This is the highest level, there is no going back.

~~~

I usually set reading challenge goals extremely high and fail, however this time I think I will actually be able to reach my goal. For now, I am going to say my goal is FIRE, but I have a feeling when December comes around I will have much more free time and will hopefully be able to read even more than seven or eight books.

~Alexandra

Making Waves (4)

Making Waves is a weekly question feature created by the Waterwitch Babes (part of Susan Dennard’s Truthwitch Street Team). Every Thursday, we’ll have a fun question that all are welcome to answer on their blog. Anyone can join! The questions will be random and/or relate to the upcoming book Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. A linky is provided so that everyone can link up their post and participate in the fun!

This week's question is... What are your favorite books that feature one of the elements on the cover or in the title?

FIRE

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas || Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

AIR

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger || The Young Elites by Marie Lu

WATER

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown || Ashes on the Waves by Mary Lindsey

EARTH

Defiance by C.J. Redwine || Splintered by A.G. Howard || Origin by Jessica Khoury

Waiting on Wednesday (17)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that you are eagerly anticipating.

Rules For 50/50 Chances by Kate McGovern
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Page Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: November 24, 2015

Via Goodreads: A heartrending but ultimately uplifting debut novel about learning to accept life's uncertainties; a perfect fit for the current trend in contemporary realistic novels that confront issues about life, death, and love.

Seventeen-year-old Rose Levenson has a decision to make: Does she want to know how she’s going to die? Because when Rose turns eighteen, she can take the test that will tell her if she carries the genetic mutation for Huntington’s disease, the degenerative condition that is slowly killing her mother. With a fifty-fifty shot at inheriting her family’s genetic curse, Rose is skeptical about pursuing anything that presumes she’ll live to be a healthy adult—including going to ballet school and the possibility of falling in love. But when she meets a boy from a similarly flawed genetic pool, and gets an audition for a dance scholarship in California, Rose begins to question her carefully-laid rules. 

~

I have really been craving contemporary reads lately, and this one just seems like a really interesting story.  The story sounds  like a few that I've enjoyed in the past, but it is unique enough to catch my attention.  (And the cover is beautiful!  It may be a bit morbid with the skull, but at the same time I love the contrast between the black heart and white skull.  I feel like it really captures the idea of the story.)  Really excited for this one!!

October TBR

Currently Reading:

I'm currently reading Heir of Fire, and I love it even more than Crown of Midnight, so the series has only been going up for me. I am so excited to finish Heir of Fire and finally get into Queen of Shadows. I am also (sort of) currently reading Air Awakens by Elise Kova and Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, but Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows are my priority right now because Queen of Shadows has been out for a month and people are going to be more lenient about spoilers.

To Read

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas || Prodigy by Marie Lu || Champion by Marie Lu

Unhinged by A.G. Howard || Golden Lily by Richelle Mead ||Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

September Wrap-Up

September went by in a flash! I am so excited for autumn (it's my favorite season!) but I can't believe it's already October. Where has the time gone?! I was hoping to read a lot more this month, but I've still been adjusting to my schedule due to all my school work, so I guess completing three books isn't half bad.

Books I Read:

West with the Night was definitely an interesting and beautifully written memoir, but it wasn't my favorite.

I finally reread Throne of Glass and read Crown of Midnight! Although I really enjoyed Throne of Glass, I thought Crown of Midnight was such a fantastic sequel! In fact, I loved it even more than book one.

Books I Bought:

I am so excited for these books! Hopefully I'll get around to reading them soon!

Challenges:

I signed up for the September is for Sequels challenge and decided not to do a wrap-up post because I only ended up reading one sequel this month... I apparently am very bad at completing challenges. Oh well.

Blog:

• If you haven't noticed, I got a new blog design! I am so in love with the design created by my lovely blogging friend Claudia (of PenMarkings). Thank you again, Claudia!!! <33

• I have blogged a decent amount this month, but nowhere near the amount I was hoping to. I guess I just need to plan more posts in advance and keep a stricter schedule

• I did my first ever collaborative post! The lovely Kaina (of These Flying Pages) and I created a list of our favorite swoony quotes from books. Thanks for working with me, Kaina! I had a ton of fun! (If you missed it and want to check it out, see here.)

• Reviews: Throne of Glass || Crown of Midnight

Life:

School has consumed my soul. (Okay, I'm joking, but I have been super busy!) Fortunately I really like most of my classes, so it hasn't been too bad, but the workload has definitely started to pick up in the past week.

I think that's all for this month! How was your September?

~Alexandra