Music Monday (25) Halsey, Hayley Kiyoko, Aanysa X Snakehips, & Ibeyi

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Adri: My choices for Music Monday today are basically two songs that have been stuck in my head for the past month. My first pick is Burn Break Crash by Aanysa X Snakehips. I love it simply because it always makes me want to sing along and dance. Plus, I can't forget it...

My second pick is River by Ibeyi. Even though I find it kind of simple (less instrumental sounds than other songs I listen to) it really draws me in, just like Burn Break Crash did.

Breana: Once again, I was going through some of my old playlists from years ago, and I happened to come across This Side of Paradise by Hayley Kiyoko. I actually forgot about this song for a while. Here’s a fun fact: Hayley Kiyoko actually played Velma in the two live-action Scooby-Doo movies, Curse of the Lake Monster & The Mystery Begins. I totally did not know that until I looked up Hayley Kiyoko while working on this post, to see if she had any new music out. 

My second pick this week is Strangers by Halsey featuring Lauren Jauregui. First off, NEW MUSIC BY HALSEY, YESSSS! I have been waiting for Hopeless Fountain Kingdom for what seems like forever, but now it’s out. Strangers is one of my favorite songs from the album.

What are you listening to this week?

Musing Monday (69) So Many Questions...

Rules: 

• Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker that asks you to muse about something book related each week. 

My musings for the week...

I haven't done Musing Monday in a really long time, and I wanted to participate because there were so many good questions that I missed. I just couldn't pass up the chance to answer them.

Question from April 10 th: What’s the coolest name you have ever seen in a book? Would you name your offspring after said fictional character?

Uh, I don't think I would necessarily name a child after a fictional character. While some of those names are cool and catchy, there are some that are kind of out there. I mean, it works for the character, but unless this name is absolutely magical and lovely (and I have an inexplicable and burning need to stake some claim on it) then I'm going to have to say no on that one. As for the coolest name, I really can't think of one right now.

Question from April 3rd: Are there any songs that make you think of certain books or scenes from books? If so, which songs/books?

This is an interesting question. Sometimes I listen to music while I read, but I never really likened any songs specifically to any of the books I've read. I just have that go-to playlist that I automatically listen to. This is something to think about though, and I could probably put together a list later, if I feel like it. Who knows...

Question from March 27th: What was your favorite picture book as a kid?

The entire Amelia Bedelia series. I just remember that when I was a kid I found the stories to be incredibly funny. 

Question from April 17th: Do you have a favorite time of day to read?

I don't have a favorite time of day to read. I just read whenever and I say that because if I'm reading a particularly good book, then I usually stay put for hours on end, or read off and on all day. There just isn't a specific time. 

Question from May 1st: Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

For this one, its not really a question of either or because I prefer both of them. I enjoy fiction because there are too many great stories I would miss if I only read nonfiction. However, this also works vice versa too because I could say the exact same thing about nonfiction. There are a wide range of subjects I like to read about, and also enjoy when I happen to come across some obscure historical or an interesting fact concerning anything science/astronomy related.

Other Musings...

Since I don’t want to just answer questions today, I thought I’d use one of the discussion topics that I didn’t have too much to say about. And that’s DNFing books. DNF is basically the abbreviated way of saying did not finish, and yeah, I know I’ve talked about why I DNF books at least once, but that was a while ago. And if you haven’t noticed, as of late, there have not been many negative reviews on this blog.

So, do I still DNF Books?

Yes, yes I do. Trust me when I say that, because I still DNF books and it happens more often than you might think. However, I just haven’t written many reviews about them. Not because I’m ashamed that I didn’t finish the book, but because I felt like doing so would be a waste of my time. Most of the books that fall into the DNF category happened to be ones I either bought or checked out from the library, so, I really have no obligation to talk about them. Because, sometimes, I just don’t have the words. So, just because I haven’t written much about any of the books I’ve recently disliked, doesn’t mean that I think everything I pick up is the most perfect object in the universe. It just means that I don’t want to write about them.

Of course, that won’t always the case, but I just wanted to mention why nothing really negative has been posted to Our Thoughts Precisely recently.

What about you? Do you write reviews for every book you read regardless of if you liked it or not?

The Friday 56 (105) & Book Beginnings: Starflight by Melissa Landers

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.

When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world—and each other—the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe...

Beginning: "What if nobody picks me? Nothing can be worse than that."

56: "Solara retreated a pace until her back met the wall. She braced herself, waiting for the owner of that enormous voice to appear, but a tiny young woman stepped onto the bridge wearing a bathrobe that dragged on the ground."

Comments: Starflight by Melissa Lander's has been on my ereader for some time now, and it's only today that I've finally gotten around to it. Suffice it to say, I'm really excited to start this one because I've heard a lot of great things about it. I haven't gotten to page 56 yet, so I don't know what's going on in the scene.

What are you reading this week?

Music Monday (24) Janelle Monáe & Charli XCX,

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: My first pick this week is Cold War by Janelle Monáe. I feel like I’m always mentioning Janelle Monáe, but she has released a lot of great songs that I just want to talk about. I also listen to The Electric Lady and ArchAndroid albums often, so I was bound to talk about her music again. So, Cold War, yeah, it’s a fantastic song.

My second pick this week is Take My Hand by Charli XCX. I first heard of her back in 2013 when her True Romance album came out. And let me tell you, I used to listen to that entire album often and on repeat. I don’t know why I stopped listening to it for a while. It’s only recently that I started listening to True Romance again and remembered why it’s one of my favorite albums. As for Take My Hand, well, I love this song so much. It’s one of the best songs from the album. There are other great songs too like Black Roses, Nuclear Seasons, and Lock You Up.

What are you listening to this week?

Review: The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi

Title: The Gauntlet
Author: Karuna Raizi 
Source/Format: Borrowed from the Library; Hardcover
More Details: Middle Grade; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Salaam Reads; March 28, 2017

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

A trio of friends from New York City find themselves trapped inside a mechanical board game that they must dismantle in order to save themselves and generations of other children in this action-packed debut that’s a steampunk Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair...

When twelve-year-old Farah and her two best friends get sucked into a mechanical board game called The Gauntlet of Blood and Sand—a puzzle game akin to a large Rubik’s cube—they know it’s up to them to defeat the game’s diabolical architect in order to save themselves and those who are trapped inside, including her baby brother Ahmed. But first they have to figure out how. Under the tutelage of a lizard guide named Henrietta Peel and an aeronaut Vijay, the Farah and her friends battle camel spiders, red scorpions, grease monkeys, and sand cats as they prepare to face off with the maniacal Lord Amari, the man behind the machine. Can they defeat Amari at his own game…or will they, like the children who came before them, become cogs in the machine?

Whenever I see a book that has a dangerous board game of some kind mentioned in the synopsis, I only approach them with just one tiny expectation: Jumanji vibes. That’s it, that’s all I’m looking for. And The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi delivered all that in the best way possible. This book was a whole lot of fun.

Despite what happened to the characters and the challenges they faced, The Gauntlet was a quick-paced and very entertaining book. One big draw was the characters. Not much time was spent on the everyday life of the characters, but I loved all the details about Farah’s family. Since The Gauntlet takes place in a world contained inside of an unpredictable board game, it had a very Jumanji/Zathura feel to it—with the added bonus of a steampunk flare that I happened to like. All the bits of machinery mixed in with the rest of the scenery gave the story an eerie atmosphere. That brings me to another thing I liked: the scenery. The descriptions of the actual game were among my favorite paragraphs from this book. Riazi created a vivid picture of what the Gauntlet was, what it looked like, and how the rules of the game worked. The challenges were neat, and I liked how much of the story resembled an actual game.

There were just a couple of things that I felt mixed about, but talking about them here would spoil the story. But I will say that it wasn’t really a fault, more of a pet peeve of mine. Other than that, I loved everything else about the story.

The Gauntlet is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. I’m really looking forward to what Karuna Riazi writes next. Actual rating 4.5 Birdcages.