Hey, everyone! It's officially time for my July TBR! (TBR stands for To Be Read, by the by.) I'm super excited for my list, but I must confess that most of these I drew from my TBR Jar.
A quick note about my TBR Jar. I just updated it a couple of days ago and it includes all of the YA books and Adult books that I own. Lately, I've been reading a lot of library books, so I decided I should mostly read books off my shelf so I can either 1) refresh my memory on the book or series OR 2) read it because I've never read it before and I feel like every book was simply written to be read. In any case, I have chosen the following books from my TBR Jar this month.
1. Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright based on a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson. I'm actually really excited for this book just because I saw the movie and I liked the twist they put on it, even thought I don't remember it very well. No worries though. I'm planning on reading it and then watching the movie again!
Valerie's sister was beautiful, kind, and sweet. Now she is dead. Henry, the handsome son of the blacksmith, tries to console Valerie, but her wild heart beats fast for another: the outcast woodcutter, Peter, who offers Valerie another life far from home.
After her sister's violent death, Valerie's world begins to spiral out of control. For generations, the Wolf has been kept at bay with a monthly sacrifice. But now no one is safe. When an expert Wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the creature lives among them - it could be anyone in town.
It soon becomes clear that Valerie is the only one who can hear the voice of the creature. The Wolf says she must surrender herself before the blood moon wanes...or everyone she loves will die.
2. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I've read this one before, but it's been so far that I do not remember anything about the plotline! It's the first book in a series and I'm hoping that I like it as much as I remember liking it. I didn't go on with the series the first time, so hopefully it's different this time.
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license - for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world - and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
3. Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 1 by Bisco Hatori. I've read the first couple of books in this manga series and I love them to death, so I'm ecstatic to be able to read these again. I just can't get enough of these!
In this screwball romantic comedy, a poor girl at a rich kids' school ends up working for the school's swankiest club - and gets mistaken for a boy!
One day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the "Host Club," a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back the damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it's there that she discovers just how wealthy the members are and how different the rich are from everybody else...
4. Overseas by Beatriz Williams. This is an Adult novel and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, but it should be an interesting read. Let me know in the comments what you think based off of the summary.
When twenty-something Wall Street analyst Kate Wilson attracts the notice of the legendary Julian Laurence at a business meeting, no one's more surprised than she is. Julian's relentless energy and his extraordinary intellect electrify her, but she's baffled by his sudden interest. Why would this handsome British billiionaire - Manhattan's most eligible bachelor - pursue a pretty but bookish young banker who hasn't had a boyfriend since college?
The answer is beyond imagining...at least at first. Kate and Julian's story may have begun not in the moneyed world of twenty-first-century Manhattan but in France during World War I, when a mysterious American woman emerged from the shadows of the Western Front to save the life of Captain Julian Laurence Ashford, a celebrated war poet and infantry officer.
Now, in modern-day New York, Kate and Julian must protect themselves from the secrets of the past, and trust in a true love that transcends time and space.
The next two books are books that I am reading for the two book clubs I am in on Goodreads.
5. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen. This book came out this year and I'm super excited to read it, especially since Dessen wrote it. One of my favorite books is by her and I've been wanting to read more of her books. I'm reading this one for my own book club, Book Assassins.
Sydney has always felt invisible. She's grown accustomed to her brother, Peyton, being the focus of the family's attention and, lately, concern. Peyton is handsome and charismatic, but seems bent on self-destruction. Now, after a drunk-driving accident that crippled a boy, Peyton's serving some serious jail time, and Sydney is on her own, questioning her place in the family and the world.
Then she meets the Chatham family. Drawn into their warm, chaotic circle, Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance for the first time. There's effervescent Layla, who constantly falls for the wrong guy, Rosie, who's had her own fall from grace, and Mrs. Chatham, who even though ailing is the heart of the family. But it's with older brother Mac - quiet, watchful, and protective - that Sydney finally feels seen, really seen, at last.
6. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson. I haven't heard a lot about this book, but I'm still excited to start my first book with the book club, Amazon Editors' YA Book Club.
For the past five years, Hayley Kincain and her father, Andy, have been on the road, trying to outrun the memories that haunt them both. They moved back to Andy's hometown to try a "normal" life, but the horrors he saw in the war threaten to destroy their lives. Hayley watches, helpless, as her father turns to drugs and alcohol to silence his demons. And then her own past creeps up, and everything falls apart.
How do you keep your father alive when death is stalking him? What are you supposed to do when your parent stops acting like an adult? And what happens if a sweet guy who can make you laugh barges his way into your world and for the first time, you find yourself thinking about the future?
And finally the last book is one I have already started and plan on finishing this month.
7. It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. I saw the movie when it first came out and I really liked it. I'm hoping the book will be even better.
Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life - which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself.
Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.
So those are the amazing seven books I am planning to read this month. If you guys have read any of these or want to just talk books, feel free to comment! I'm going to try and post reviews for all of these as I finish them, so look out for those as well!
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