Stacking the Shelves! (March 23rd 2019)

Hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Stacking the Shelves is where all the booknerds can post about the lovely (or not so lovely) books that we've read, acquired, or discovered in the past week.

Hello, hello! I did not do a Stacking the Shelves post last week because I did not get much in the way of reading done, so there wasn't much in my reading life to post. The most exciting thing that happened since my last post is that I got into the Denver Publishing Institute! I'm ready to pack up and go, but it doesn't start until July, so for now, I just have to meticulously plan everything! I also got word that I will be starting an internship next month! 

Here's my week in books! Click on the cover to view the book on Goodreads!

Books I've Read The Last Two Weeks

Currently Listening to

Paperbackswap

How was your week?

Cover Lust: Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Cover Lust is something that I do every week where I feature a book cover that I absolutely love!

A beautiful love story for fans of Jandy Nelson and Nicola Yoon: two teens find their way back to each other in a bookstore full of secrets and crushes, grief and hope—and letters hidden between the pages.

Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry Jones. The day before she moved away, she tucked a love letter into his favorite book in his family’s bookshop. She waited. But Henry never came. 

Now Rachel has returned to the city—and to the bookshop—to work alongside the boy she’d rather not see, if at all possible, for the rest of her life. But Rachel needs the distraction. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore. 

As Henry and Rachel work side by side—surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages—they find hope in each other. Because life may be uncontrollable, even unbearable sometimes. But it’s possible that words, and love, and second chances are enough.

Goodreads / Amazon/ Barnes&Noble 

 Why did I pick this cover? 

Okay, yes, part of the reason I love this cover is because it has books on it, but there are more reasons to why I love this cover. I love how the books are organized. I love how some of the books are flipped open, some closed, and how they are all various shades of blue. The way the open books make space for the title, even though it does make me slightly worried about the books getting damaged (even though I know it is digital). The cover really ties into the title and what the book is about.

What are your thoughts? Tell me in the comments!

Cover vs Cover: Hold Still by Nina LaCour

This week's pick is...

Hold Still

 VS.    VS.

Hardcover                Original Paperback                 New Paperback

I actually already did a cover vs cover post for this book, but a new cover came out recently, so I'm doing it again! Last time I had a hard time choosing because the Hardcover seems to reflect the theme of grief and includes doodles and notes behind the girl, which is important to the plot. The blue Paperback cover won though because it was more ascetically pleasing. Now, for the new cover, I really like the hand-drawn aesthetic and the fact that it matches We Are Okay. I feel like it matches the book more than the blue cover, with the drawn quality and the two girls shown on the cover.  I'm not really a fan of the salmon color, though, and I'm not sure if it shows the grief that is a big theme in this book (it is about a girl dealing with her friend's suicide and reading her friend's journal). Although, if I look closely the two shadows become only one. Maybe it is intentional? To be honest, I still like the Original Paperback more. I just don't like that salmon color.
 Final Verdict: Original Paperback

Do you agree? Give me your thoughts on which cover is the best!

Waiting on Wednesday: Earth to Charlie by Justin Olson

Waiting on Wednesday (or Can't Wait Wednesday) is a weekly meme, hosted by Wishful Endings, where you talk about whatever book you are IMPATIENTLY WAITING for!

This week I am waiting for...

A high school outcast spends his life hoping to be abducted by aliens in this funny, quirky novel about finding your footing in a world that sometimes feels like Mars. 

Convinced his mother has been abducted by aliens, Charlie Dickens spends his nights with an eye out for UFOs, hoping to join her. After all, she said the aliens would come back for him. Charlie will admit that he doesn’t have many reasons to stick around; he doesn’t get along well with his father, he’s constantly bullied at school and at work, and the only friend he has is his 600-pound neighbor Geoffrey, and Geoffrey’s three-legged dog, Tickles.

Then Charlie meets popular, easy-going Seth, who shows him what real friendship is all about. For once, he finds himself looking around at the life he’s built, rather than looking up. But sooner than he expected, Charlie has to make a decision: should he stay or should he go?

Release Date: April 16th, 2019

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Why am I waiting?

I love the concept of this book. It sounds like a combination of one of my previous book obsessions (aliens!) with the contemporary genre which I have been more drawn to lately.
What book are you waiting for this week?

Joining The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019!

Hello, hello! I decided to join The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019! In the challenge, I'm supposed to read books that came out before 2018 (and have been on my to-read list since before the start of 2018). I had already joined the Cleaning Out the TBR Closet 2019 Challenge on Goodreads, but I haven't been writing reviews for the books I've been reading. I've found that my own reviews are really helpful in determining whether to continue reading a series or an author. In the Goodreads challenge I am reading books I added to my TBR between 2012-2016, which means reviewing is very important because my tastes have changed! I want to focus on the same years, but I really want to dwindle my 2012 and 2013 TBR piles.

Here are the numbers for the piles at the time of writing this post:
2012: 102 books
2013: 172 books
2014: 265 books
2015: 295 books
2016: 295 books

Obviously, I will not be reading all of these books! I mainly want to cut down the 2012 list in half (or more) and get the other lists down a little bit. Some of this will be reading books, maybe even dnfing them, and taking some off of my TBR altogether!

Because I like to keep organized, I will be periodically updating this post.

2012

Read and Reviewed

DNF

2013

Read and Reviewed

2014

Read and Reviewed

2015

Read and Reviewed

Read and Not Reviewed

2016

Read and Reviewed

Read and Not Reviewed

Feel free to join in this challenge if you're interested!