Gabriella M Reads

For as long as I can remember every time I went over to my best friend's house, the television show FRIENDS would be playing as a kind of background noise. I caught a few episodes here and there, but it wasn't until it was on Netflix that I finally began to watch it. Of course I texted my best friend every single thought I had along the way, no matter what time it was. So when Mariam tagged me for this post, I was crazy stoked about it! Here we go! "So no one told you life was gonna be this way." - A book which surprised you. I was pleasantly surprised by The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley and I don't think I'll ever stop pushing this book on people. It's an adult contemporary about a man facing a tough decision in regards to his wife's care. That's all I'm willing to say.  However, I know that a lot of people my age read young adult more than they do adult so I'll also mention The Blood Between Us by Zac Brewer. I recently...

Tucson Festival of Books March 12th & 13th of 2016 If you've been around for a while, then you'll know that last year I went to the Tucson Festival of Books for the very first time and had an absolute blast. I've been waiting for it to be time again ever since. I never knew that my city hosted an event full of my people, crazy right? This year was absolutely amazing and I am left waiting for the same great experience next year. Day one I went with my cousin and his girlfriend as we all planned to see R.L. Stine . My favorite quote from his presentation happened to come after some story telling, "I always make up my true stories." This earned a laugh from the audience. Afterwards, the plan was to meet him and get my copy of Eye Candy signed, but after 45 minutes in line we gave up. Turned out that his line was going to be around 3 hours long and I had other things to do! It's still quite the bummer though. While I stopped at the Sweet Sixteens ...

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken 5 Stars The Darkest Minds was the Better Read Than Dead book club pick for February 2016 and boy did I enjoy it. For those of you who don't know a "disease" swept through the country and seemed to only affect children. Those who survived were not the same afterwards and thus were sent away. I found the beginning to be a little slow and was unsure about my feelings toward our main character, Ruby. However, when we were introduced to Liam and his eclectic bunch I just could not put it down. It's safe to say that I loved him. Maybe a little too much. Lol. I found Zu to be absolutely precious and also quite the mystery. I was drawn to her partially because we knew so little about her. Chubs however, rubbed me the wrong way for a good amount of the novel. He did eventually grow on me, so I encourage you to hold out hope. One character that I had severe mixed feeling for was Clance. He pulled me in so much, but my brain w...

Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood 5 Stars To start off, I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing me with yet another lovely novel. I went into this book thinking it was basically about some family curse where the women die young and talented. I was wrong. This is a contemporary novel that, in my opinion, centers around family issues, finding your voice, and acceptance. Boy did I eat it up. I found our main character, Ivy, to be smart, strong-willed, but also a tad whiny. I understand her issues, believe me, you will too. But sometimes I just wanted to scream at her for not speaking up when she truly needed to. It was one of the most frustrating things and often it had to do with her grandad. I absolutely adored Grace and Ella. I hope you will as well. These two, while young, can really teach you something. On to my least favorite characters. I wasn't a huge fan of Alex, he seemed quite possessive, but maybe if there is a future book, he can redeem himself. My most...