Summervacation!

Hi there!

As a teacher, my summer vacation is the period of 100% relaxing.

Everything in my classroom is cleaned out. No reports need to be made, no test scores that need to be analyzed, no need to write lesson plans.

I can just do NOTHING for a while.

I'm leaving for Germany/Switzerland/Italy/Austria. I'm just going to drive around with a tent in the car! I love it.

This means that I'll be offline until August 8th (don't pin me on that date, it's possible that I'm away longer!) and won't be responding to comments or emails and I won't visit other blogs.

Hope to see you after my trip!

Have a lovely summer. 🌴🌴🌴

July Wrap up - Book Haul & What to Expect Next Month

 Hi there!

Yep, I'm totally writing my wrap-up for July!

I'll be packing my suitcase for a 2 week camping trip somewhere in Germany/Switzerland!

So ready to relax :)

Thanks for stopping by, I'll see you in two weeks.

Enjoy 💛

Review: Everything is Normal: Life and Times of a Soviet Kid

Author: Sergey Grechishkin
Started reading: July 2nd 2017
Finished the book: July 17th 2017
Pages: 305
Genres: Autobiography, Memoir
Published: 2017
Source: Got a digital copy from the author
Goodreads score: Not enough ratings
My score:

Synopsis
This book is both a memoir and a social history. On one hand, it is a light-hearted worm’s-eye-view of the USSR through one middle-class Soviet childhood in the 1970s - 1980s. On the other hand, it is a reflection on the mundane deprivations and existential terrors of day-to-day life in Leningrad in the decades preceding the collapse of the USSR.

The author occupies a peculiar place in the Soviet world. He is the son of a dissident father and also the step-son of a politically favored Leningrad University professor and Party member. He also occupies a peculiar place in the literal geographic sense- both his home and school are only a few blocks away from the city’s KGB headquarters, where a yet-unknown officer called Vladimir Putin is learning his trade..

Review: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3)

Author: Marissa Meyer
Started reading: July 8th 2017
Finished the book: July 16th 2017
Pages: 552
Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, YA
Published: February 4th 2014
Source: Bought the book
Goodreads score: 4.46
My score:

Synopsis
In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they're plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she's just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

The Liebster Awards

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to tell you that I've been nominated for The Liebster Awards! Saowbia from Ever The Reader nominated me, thanks so much! Be sure to check out her blog as well!

If you didn't know; The Liebster Awards is a way for bloggers to discover other blogs and nominate blogs that have under 200 readers.

Review (SPOILERS): A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3)

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Started reading: July 3rd 2017
Finished the book: July 13th 2017
Pages: 699
Genres: Fantasy
Published: May 2nd 2017
Source: Bought the book
Goodreads score: 4.56
My score:

Synopsis
Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's manoeuvrings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees.

But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit - and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords - and hunt for allies in unexpected places.
In this thrilling third book in the number one New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the earth will be painted red as mighty armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy them all.

Re-Post: Review: Final Girls

Author: Riley Sager
Started reading: January 3rd 2017
Finished the book: January 8th 2017
Pages: 368
Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Horror
Published: July 11th 2017
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads score: 4.07
My score:

Synopsis
Each girl survived an unthinkable horror. Now someone wants them dead...

They were the victims of separate tragedies. Three strangers bound by similar traumas grouped together by the press.

When something terrible happens to Lisa, put-together Quincy and volatile Sam finally meet. Each one influences the other. Each one has dark secrets. And as the bloodstained fingers of the past reach into the present, each one will never be the same.

Two Short Stories

In this post I'll be highlighting two short stories by Tetiana Aleksina and Tony Single.

Since the stories really are short, 11 pages and 38 pages, I won't be able to write the longer reviews you're used from me.

Title: Mooreeffoc

Authors: Tetiana Aleksina and Tony Single

Pages: 11

First, I want to point out the title, which is just awesome. It's Mooreeffoc; coffeeroom spelled backwards. It's the spot where this story takes place.

I could describe this short story as artistic, I feel like you really need to read between the lines to understand what the story is about.

The story is about two people who are unknowingly controlled by Egyptian Gods. It's short but it felt like an intelligent read.

Warning from the authors: The book contains obscene language, so it isn't recommended that you read it to your children at bedtime!

Title: One Pulse: Cradle 2 Grave

Authors: Tetiana Aleksina and Tony Single

Pages: 38

Nope, poetry is still not for me. I've tried it just now and I really tried to like it, but no. Not my thing, sorry.

I did like the pictures in this book. I think Tetiana and Tony should write a comic book or a graphic novel.

And I did like the writing style, there were maybe 2 poems I did like. But poetry just isn't my thing, so maybe I'm not the best reviewer for this book.

If you do like poems you could try this one, the poems are about love, life and (as you can see on the cover) death.

Did you read some good short stories? Share them with me!

Review: Revenants: The Odyssey Home

Author: Scott Kauffman
Started reading: June 26th 2017
Finished the book: July 2nd 2017
Pages: 306
Genres: Historical, War
Published: December 15th 2015
Source: Got a physical copy from the author
Goodreads score: 3.85
My score:

Synopsis
A grief-stricken candy-striper serving in a VA hospital following her brother's death in Viet Nam struggles to return home an anonymous veteran of the Great War against the skullduggery of a congressman who not only controls the hospital as part of his small-town fiefdom but knows the name of her veteran. A name if revealed would end his political ambitions and his fifty-year marriage. In its retelling of Odysseus' journey, Revenants casts a flickering candle upon the charon toll exacted not only from the families of those who fail to return home but of those who do.

Review: Ghost Machine: A Gothic Steampunk Novel

Author: Kristen Brand
Started reading: June 20th 2017
Finished the book: June 28th 2017
Pages: 265
Genres: Steampunk
Published: December 30th 2016
Source: Got a digital copy from the author
Goodreads score: Not enough ratings
My score:

Synopsis
Ella Rosenfeld is a lunatic. Locked away in the remote Auttenberg Asylum, she undergoes torturous treatment to cure her hallucinations. Yet the longer she remains within Auttenberg’s austere halls, the more gruesome her visions become, until Ella is sure she’s seeing ghosts, and Auttenberg’s doctor knows it. He doesn’t plan to cure her; he wants to study her ability by dissecting her.

Ella refuses to accept her fate. She assaults her captors, scales the asylum fence, and finds sanctuary in the castle of Baron Viktor Szarka. Young and arrogant, the baron offers her protection, but he’s rumored to have locked a woman in the asylum to hide his dark past, and he has suspicious dealings with Auttenberg’s doctor. Unable to trust him, Ella must uncover the conspiracy surrounding the asylum, her visions, and the baron’s secret...or join the rest of Auttenberg’s ghosts.

Review: Liar Liar (Helen Grace #4)

Author: M.J. Arlidge
Started reading: June 24th 2017
Finished the book: June 25th 2017
Pages: 440
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Published: September 10th 2015
Source: Borrowed from the library (gonna buy it!)
Goodreads score: 4.15
My score:

Synopsis
Detective Helen Grace has never seen such destruction. Six fires in twenty-four hours. Two people dead. Several more injured. It’s as if someone wants to burn the city to the ground...

With the whole town on high alert, Helen and her team must sift through the rubble to find the arsonist, someone whose thirst for fire—and control—is reducing entire lives to ashes.
One misstep could mean Helen’s career—and more lives lost. And as the pressure mounts and more buildings burn, Helen’s own dark impulses threaten to consume her…