Gabriella M Reads

Armchair BEA! Welcome to my second year of participating in Armchair BEA, the online version of Book Expo America. We talk books an blogging and celebrate the community. This is day one, I hope you enjoy! Introduction I'm Gabriella and I'm 22 years old, almost 23. I love to read, hike, watch television, and just relax. My current read is Freeks by Amanda Hocking and I'm enjoying it so far. My summer plans include reading, adventuring, and visiting with my friends from out of town. That's about it. Day One: Best Practices Within the Online Book Community Some of my best practices include kindness (which honestly goes a long way, especially with everything going on lately) and persistent use of my Twitter to stay involved. I think we all know there can be a lot of hurtful things, rude people, and general negativity within the community and I try my best to be one of the positive people. It's not hard to be supportive of one another. Honestly. As far...

The Martian by Andy Weir 4 Stars I'm going to keep this pretty brief. Mostly because I have forgotten anything of real significance since it took me over a year to finish this book. Don't get me wrong, it is a great book. I just kept putting it down in favor of other books that were more in my comfort zone. I picked it back up last night and finished the last 150 pages fairly quickly. What I love about this book is it's humor. This man is stranded on Mars and he could very well die. Dying actually seems most likely and he's cracking jokes and maintaining his normal personality despite everything he's going through. Yes, he gets stressed and frustrated, but it's written in a light way. Or it was for me anyway. Andy Weir has a talent for making the science stuff reasonably understandable for those of us who may not have been the best in the subject. It's gripping and I really found myself rooting for him the whole time. I definitely recommend this one...

Waiting on Wednesday For those of you who don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a series hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine . This week I'll be sharing another book that I am SUPER excited for and I have no idea how I will make it all the way until November. The First To Know by Abigail Johnson Dana Fields's father never knew his parents. When Dana secretly does a DNA test for her dad, hoping to find him some distant relatives for his birthday, her entire world implodes. Instead of a few third cousins, Dana discovers a half brother her age whose very existence means her parents' happy marriage is a lie.  Dana's desire to know her half brother, Brandon, and the extent of her dad's deception, clashes with her wish not to destroy her family. When she sees the opportunity to get to know Brandon through his cousin, the intense yet kind Chase, she takes it. But the more she finds out about Brandon, her father's past and the irresistible guy who...

Waiting on Wednesday For those of you who don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a series hosted by Jill from  Breaking the Spine . This week I'll be sharing one of my most anticipated books of 2017 and if you know me at all, you won't be surprised. This is How it Happened by Paula Stokes Somehow I’ve become a liar. A coward. Here’s how it happened.   When Genevieve Grace wakes up from a coma, she can’t remember the car crash that injured her and killed her boyfriend Dallas, a YouTube star who had just released his first album. Genevieve knows she was there, and that there was another driver, a man named Brad Freeman, who everyone assumes is guilty. But as she slowly pieces together the night of the accident, Genevieve is hit with a sickening sense of dread—that maybe she had something to do with what happened. As the internet rages against Brad Freeman, condemning him in a brutal trial by social media, Genevieve escapes to her father’s house, where she can hi...

The Duke of Bannerman Prep by Katie A. Nelson 5 Stars The Duke of Bannerman Prep was actually, I guess still is, most anticipated debuts of 2017 and I feel so lucky and blessed to have gotten my hands on it so early. I will start by saying while this is said to be a Great Gatsby retelling, I will not personally be talking about that seeing as I have never read or watched The Great Gatsby. On to my other thoughts! I went into this book full knowing that I was going to love it. I have yet to meet a book featuring a boarding school that I did not like. So the title had me before I even read the description, but once I did I kind of went on to tell everyone how much I needed this in my life. Well it did not disappoint. Our book follows Tanner, a high school debater who recently switched schools in hopes of a brighter future. We see from the very beginning that he is very serious about why he's there and what he came to do. I admire that about him. But also in the very firs...

A Very Arc-ish Readathon So, the readathon has come and gone oh so quickly. I think this may be the first readathon where I actually got some reading done without putting myself in a stress induced slump. I know you're probably curious as to how I did, unless you follow me on Twitter. And.... I read two whole ARCs. Yep, you read that right, TWO. I even started a third about an hour before the readathon officially ended. Let's get to it! My first book is actually a secret, but y'all will hear about it eventually and trust me when I tell you it was absolutely wonderful! The second one I finished was The Duke of Bannerman Prep by Katie A. Nelson and I loved it! Seriously, who doesn't love a good boarding school read? I know they're some of my favorite. My full spoiler free review will be up tomorrow if you're interested in my thoughts. Lastly, I just started reading What the Dead Want by Norah Olson and I'm definitely intrigued. Plus I'm really diggi...