Monthly Wrap Up: July 2019

And here we are at the end of another month! Wow! Time flies when you are reading and reviewing books. 😂 I didn’t realize it was the end of July until my hubby asked me what today was!

My goal for July was to read less books than I did in June. So let’s see if I accomplished my goal:

Looks are deceiving! Haha, I read more books than what is shown here because I pre-scheduled posts for August already. So in reality I read more books than I did in June. 🤦🏻‍♀️ But that’s okay because I’ve been reading some amazing books lately! 😍 I do think I need some more adult romance or just some good adult fiction to read so if you have any suggestions, please drop them in the comments.

Usually I list the titles and my ratings and a link back to the post but I’m pressed for time today and wanted to get this post out before I forget. Check my archives to see my reviews!

My in-laws are visiting in 2 weeks so I’ve been reading and writing posts that are scheduled to publish in August while they are here. Also, my son starts school on Tuesday so today I’ll be labeling all his school supplies since tomorrow is meet & greet and I can drop his things off to his classroom. August will be crazy busy!

With that said, and before I run off to do errands today – I just wanted to share some of my favorite photos I took this month. They are unfiltered and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking it that day.

A vibrant pink and purple sunset in Hawaii

My kids and I spied a double rainbow the other day!

My son enjoying the view from the ground.

Just a little sneak peek into my life outside of read and reviewing books. 🥰

Okay I hope all of you have a wonderful day or night and please, drop your monthly wrap up links in my comments section so I can read yours! And as we say in Hawaii, ALOHA…(hello, goodbye, love…)

The Sunshine Blogger Award

Thank you to the fun and amazing book blogger A Little Haze Book Blog for nominating me for my first book blog award ever! 😘 Check out her blog, it’s filled with awesome blog posts and book reviews that always makes me smile!

What is the Sunshine Blogger Award?

The Sunshine Blogger Award is given to those who are creative, positive and inspiring while spreading sunshine to the blogging community.

How does it work?

Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

Questions from A Little Haze Book Blog:

What is the first book you ever remember buying?

I don’t have a memory of the first book I ever bought. But I have a memory of my older sister and I, who loved Judith McNaught romance novels, but were too embarrassed to buy them (we were in high school at the time and thought we’d be judge for reading romance novels 🙄). I remember we were in the aisle at Waldenbooks trying to decide who would take the book to the cashier, because we were buying a “romance” novel. 😂 We ended up both walking up to the cashier together, I just don’t remember what book it was!

Have you ever read any book that changed the way you see yourself or how you see the world? If so what book and why?

I just read the arc for Frankly in Love which tackled the issues of growing up Asian-American. There were a lot of things in that book that made my heart ache because I saw myself in Frank Li. It’s amazing when you see yourself in a character, it puts to voice a lot of conflicting things I thought of as a child. The book also made me appreciate my parents and their own journey in life 1000% more.

What is your most unpopular bookish opinion?

I’m not in love with the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. 🤭 I know so many people that is in love with the Darkling and this trilogy and I read book one, barely got through book two and I have no interest to read book three. The Darkling does nothing for me. 😩🤷🏻‍♀️ But do I want to see the series come to life on Netflix? Sure! Because the series might be better for me, if it was brought to life visually on screen.

What is your favourite thing about book blogging or blogging in general?

I like that I get to meet fellow book lovers! Everyone has been so welcoming in the book community. Thank you to my followers for following me!

What is your favourite ever quote from a book and why that quote?

This one is so hard. I can’t pick a favorite ever, but I’ll pick one of my favorites that I have dog-eared in a book on my shelf. I usually don’t EVER dog-ear book pages but this one I did for some reason, so I must have really loved it.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

I love Jane’s spirit, she’s a fighter. Even with her abusive past and things go wrong with Mr. Rochester, she stays strong.

If you could only ever read books by one author for the rest of your life, what author would that be?

One author for the rest of my life?! Hard question. I’ll choose Sarah MacLean. My first love is romance and they always make me happy, so why not choose an author that will make me feel happy the rest of my life.

What is your favourite genre to read?

Automatically I’d say romance but I’ve been reading mostly fantasy young adult lately but it HAS to have romance in it.

What is your least favourite genre to read?

Horror – sometimes it’s so good it scares the life out of me. It’s a love/hate thing but I try to avoid it most of the time. 😳😣

What is your opinion on open-ended books?

Depends on the book I think. I’ve read some that let me super frustrated. I want to know what happens…

Have you ever bought a book based on its cover alone? If so what was the book and what about the cover drew you in?

All the time. I bought Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton because of the cover. It’s purple and black with a tree with no leaves. There are red petals falling down and I love the font of the title. I love the color combo and the withered looking tree, it’s such a mood. I also haven’t read it yet. Haha…but I love looking at the cover.

Bloggers I’m Nominating (and you are totally not obligated to do this book tag! It’s just for fun but I’d love to see your answers. ☺️):

11 Questions for those Tagged:

What is a book or book series you can re-read over and over again?
What is the book that made you fall in love with reading?
Because I know it’s hard to choose just one, what characters would you name as your ultimate book boyfriends OR girlfriends?
How long have you been blogging and what made you start in the first place?
What is the best book you’ve read so far in 2019?
What is a book that has been sitting on your shelf, unread, for the longest time?
How do you feel about Audiobooks? Love it or Hate it?
What is your favorite genre and why?
What are you currently reading?
Name three music artists, songs or albums that could be the soundtrack to the book you are reading right now?
Where is your favorite reading spot?

Top 5 Tuesday

Alrighty, since Top Ten Tuesday is having a freebie topic for the week and my brain is mush. I needed something quick to do and went to Bionic Book Worm’s Top 5 Tuesday page and thought, let’s give this one a go.

This week it’s choosing books that start with U-V-W-X-Y-Z. Yikes….hmmm, okay, I can do this. 😅

U is for Under Different Stars by. Amy A. Bartol

This one is an interesting world created by Amy A. Bartol. There’s hot guys who are basically aliens, and a girl named Kricket who is on the run.

V is for Vendentta by. Catherine Doyle

One of my favorite young adult mafia series! Sexy Italian guys in a Mafioso family and a girl who’s father’s sins come to haunt her. So good! 🔥❤️

W is for Wicked Saints by. Emily A. Duncan

I’m reading this next, so I hope it’s good! I heard some good reviews on it, have you read it? What is your opinion of it?

X is for Xenocide by. Orson Scott Card

Have I read this? No. This is where I got help from my hubby. I asked him for a book that starts with X and this is what he gave me. 😄

Y if for The Young Elites by. Marie Lu

I think this was the first Marie Lu book I read and I thought it was pretty good but I didn’t read the whole series. I’ll definitely have to pick it up again.

Z is for Alice in Zombieland by. Gena Showalter

Obviously, I’m cheating with this title because I can’t find a Z title I have read! 😩 But I did read this book years ago. I remember it being filled with action.

There you have it! I think I did pretty good, right? I’d love to see your Top Ten Tuesday or Top 5 Tuesday posts, so leave your link in the comment below!

First Line Fridays

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

Here we are at the LAST Friday of July. My son starts school in less than two weeks, in-laws are going to be visiting so I’m trying to stay on top of scheduling posts for the month of August, since I’ll be way to busy to be reading as much I usually do.

I’ll be participating in my first Blog Tour which is exciting and can I just say I have been so happy with 90% of all the books I’ve been reading! There is so much good books out there and that makes me happy. Nothing is more sad than a book slump, but so far there has been no book slump on my end – just lots of catching up to do. 😩

Anyway want to see what I picked up next to read? Here’s a hint:

“The gallows had been erected in the shadow of the clock tower, partly so that the spectators could witness the executions without the nuisance of the sun in their eyes, and partly so that the Tribunal could keep its killings on precise schedule.”

↓

Have you read this book? Is it any good? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! What are you reading this weekend?

Summer Bucket List Book Tag

I saw this book tag post on a few blogs this week so I wanted to try it. I clicked back to the original creator and fell in love with her blog, Read By Tiffany. It’s so beautiful, #bloggoals for real! This looks fun, let’s see how it goes and you can try it too.

The Rules via Read By Tiffany

Link back to the original creator in your post.
Feel free to use any of my graphics in your post, or create your own!
Tag 5 other people at the end of your post, and let them know you’ve tagged them.

It’s not summertime if you aren’t reading a Sarah Dessen novel. A lot of her books are set by the water, usually a lake. The Rest of the Story takes place at a lake town in the height of the summer season as it approaches the 4th of July. It’s about family, summertime in a lake town, finding yourself and yes – falling in love! Perfect beach, lake or pool reading material. 🏖

This book comes out in December! But I read it as an eArc provided by NetGalley last month and can I just mention that there is a part in the book that is just…🔥🥵😍 and nothing really happens in this scene but pure tension and talking. But I was fanning myself, seriously. It’s a modern re-imagining of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Hearts, Strings, and other Breakable Things should really be a summer book with all the heat in it but I guess it will be melting hearts in December. 😉

Another eArc provided by NetGalley that I just finished is The Lady Rogue by the wonderful Jenn Bennett. This one you don’t have to wait long for as it is being published on September 3, 2019. This has adventure through Turkey and Romania with our main characters going on a treasure hunt. The dialogue between Theodora and Huck is so much fun and they constantly bicker because they have strong feelings for each other. If you like Vlad (Dracula) legends and stories about roughing it in a foreign country in the 1930’s – then you will love this book.

In a time of Marie Antoinette and the Palace of Versailles…how could I not be starstruck by such excess of that time period? This book was enchanting indeed, from the hot air balloon rides, decadent nights gambling and playing in the gardens at Versailles and falling in love. Enchantée left me starstruck.

I am Frankly in Love with this book. It explored racism, how to bridge two cultures when being American and Korean. It made laugh, it made me sad and it made me cry. It’s funny and yes it has romance as well. A friends to fake lovers to lovers scenario. Though light-hearted at times and heavy as well, I read this book in one day. I read the ARC courtesy of winning it on Bookishfirst.com but it will be out September 10, 2019. It’s one of my favorite books this year!

Somewhere Only We Know is a sweet story that made me hungry! This book is one of my other faves this year. It is a cute romance story about a K-Pop star and an ordinary guy. They spend a whole day together and yes – fall in love while traipsing around Hong Kong. If you want a very fun, light-hearted read, this one is definitely for you!

Spin the Dawn was a breath of fresh air for me. It’s a fantasy novel with magic and a cutthroat fashion competition. The drama! The fashion! There is intrigue, magic, romance, a quest and adventure. If you want a little bit of everything, then add this to your TBR list.

There are so many books I read that fit this criteria but I went back into my archives for books I read this year and chose A Curse So Dark and Lonely. What better obstacle to conquer than trying to help break a curse? And doing it while dealing with Cerebral Palsy? This is a Beauty and The Beast reimagining and it’s really good. It’s book one in the series and I’m excited for book two.

This isn’t my original pick for this category, it would be Somewhere Only We Know or Frankly in Love because of the Asian cuisine that I love featured in it. So this is my third choice, The Gilded Wolves, which is actually a heist story set in industrial Paris. Already you know Paris has a reputation for amazing cuisine but there is a character in this book, Laila, who always has sugar in her hair and is baking amazing desserts. So because of that, this is my choice for a book with delicious food! 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

You don’t get more inspiring than Angie Thomas’ newest book On The Come Up. Bri wants to be a rapper and she’s so good at writing rhymes but she has to overcome some issues at home, school, the industry and the neighborhood to really succeed. Can she do it? Can she rise above it all? This embodied my love of hip-hop, and it explored race and socio-economic issues. By the end I felt as inspired as Bri to reach my goals!

And that’s it!

You know…after doing this tag, I realize I need more contemporary, light-hearted, summery books to read! Everything I seem to read has been dark lately. 😆

I’m not going to tag anyone only because I’ve seen so many bloggers doing this tag already and I don’t want you to be tagged again. If you didn’t do it yet, I’d love to see your list! If you do make one, post your link in the comments below and I will check it out. This is one way I add to my TBR list, I love reading these book tag lists and find books that interest me. Please, recommend me more light-hearted romance novels please! I need them. 😘

Top Ten Tuesday: Auto-Buy Authors

This Top Ten Tuesday topic is Auto-Buy Authors. Let’s see if I can come up with ten authors. I say that because I downsized a lot when I moved years ago, and stopped buying books! I mostly borrowed from the library and then couldn’t wait for new releases to show up in the catalog so I bought ebooks. But I’m back to buying physical books again. Yay! 💃🏻

Sarah J. Maas – I can honestly say I wasn’t totally on board when I read Throne of Glass. But I kept up with the series because I thought Celaena was a cool character. It got better with each book. It kind of lost me again at the last book, but I think by then I was just way more invested in the A Court of Thorn and Roses series. That’s when she became an auto-buy author for me. I look forward to her new series, Crescent City and can we also get a Cassian/Nesta spin off, please?

Holly Black – I love faerie stories and who kicked off my love for them? Why Ms. Holly Black herself. When I read Tithe, I was so intrigued, I devoured all Fae stories from then on out. I never read her middle grade books, but everything else of Holly’s I’ve read and loved. And she’s in top form with there The Folk of the Air Series with Jude and Cardan. Absolute auto-buy.

Lisa Kleypas – my first love will always be romance novels. And after my favorite Judith McNaught stopped writing them there was a huge void to fill. Then I stumbled upon Lisa Kleypas. I absolutely love her historical romance novels. Her contemporary ones aren’t on the same level, but if it’s a historical romance, it’s an auto-buy for sure.

Sarah MacLean – And when Lisa Kleypas started writing contemporary, I needed someone to fill the hole for historical romance and I tried a few. Many were misses, but one lady hit it – Sarah MacLean. Her books are passionate and fun, fun, FUN. Absolute auto-buy.

Jenny Han – I’m sure I’ve loved all her novels since the Summer series and can we talk about the aesthetic of her book covers? So pretty. Okay I didn’t love the Summer series as much as my best friend did, but I liked the story-telling, the whole two brothers in love with the same girl theme is not for me. Obviously my fave will be To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before because, Lara Jean and Peter K!

Sarah Dessen – Sarah Dessen was a staple for me in my college years. I was going through a lot of changes and there is something special about Sarah Dessen books. I can relate to her stories so well. They are about complicated families, and complicated feelings usually. She’s still an auto-buy after all these years.

Jenn Bennett – I stumbled upon Jenn Bennet because of the cover of Alex, Approximately, which I adored. I love the dialogue between her characters. I’ve read four books of hers now and I think it’s time to add her on my auto-buy list.

Karen Marie Morning – speaking of historical romances. Karen Marie Morning wrote this highlander books before her Fever Series and I loved it. Love her alpha male Highlanders who could wield druid magic and travel time. And then she wrote Darkfever and that was it – she’s been an auto-buy author for a long while now.

Christi Caldwell – another historical romance author that I stumbled on but this time with a Kindle Unlimited account where I could devour most of her books. And she has a lot. Christi Caldwell never seems to stop writing it seems. I love most of her books, though some fell flat for me too, but I’ve enjoyed her Wicked Wallflower series a lot. So she’s an automatic read for me on my Kindle Unlimited account.

Kristin Hannah – I read The Nightingale when it first published then devoured all her books. She is one of my favorite authors. I have yet to read The Great Alone and I will excuse that because I had a year old baby when it published and my mother-in-law told me it was a bit heavy and dark. But I will read it soon!

Who’s on your auto-buy author list? Let me know in the comments below – I’d love to hear from you!

First Lines Fridays

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

Hi everyone! So I changed the look of my blog – wanted it to look a bit summery but with a cool color palette. It’s been so hot and humid in Hawaii, I’m ready for winter. I say winter because we hardly get seasons. Fall feels like an extension of summer. 😅 Hope you all are staying cool wherever you are. I just got a nice book haul from Book Outlet come in the mail today so I’m gonna choose a book from my box to feature today.

Ready??

“Branches scrape his cheek, hungry for his blood. Eyes wide, the boy pushes harder, shoving at the sharp, dry leaves, stomping through undergrowth and deadfall. The trees are an old-growth tangle of trip wire, a web of limbs and fingers and claws to snare him. Behind the boy, the devil clicks his teeth.”

👀

⬇️

Sounds menacing! Haha, okay so I bought this because the price was so good and the cover is gorgeous! We’ll see if I like it.

What are you reading this weekend? Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments below. Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Fierce Female Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl – definitely check out her awesome website.

This Top Ten Tuesday was a free topic about Characters. I had such a hard time picking a topic. 😫 But eventually I ended up with this one to celebrate some of the badass female characters I’ve read throughout the years. I’ve read SO many books over the past thirty years that I chose the ones at the top of my head. Now this list is mostly from YA Books because it’s what I read most of lately. But this is a super short list folks, and not listed in any ranking at all. There are so many fierce female characters that I love and I keep adding to my mental list.

Feyre Archeron from A Court of Roses and Thorns Series. The first chapter where we meet Feyre, I was like, YASS..this is going to be good. She’s starving, hunting her next meal and dealing with family that don’t appreciate her. She’s a survivor and fighter from beginning to end.

Caelaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass Series – Now before ACOTAR there was Throne of Glass. I thought TOG, the first book was just okay. Wasn’t totally in love with it, thought it was a light fantasy read but the sequels after were pretty amazing. Caelaena is a beautiful, fierce assassin.

MacKayla Lane “Mac” from the Darkfever Series. This one is not YA but Adult Urban Fantasy. Years before any Feyre, Caelaena and anyone on this list came along I was obsessed with Mac. On the chase for her sister’s killer, Mac meets enigmatic Jericho Barrons and she gets introduced to the Fae world. I think Mac’s appeal was she was this Barbie girl who loved bright colorful clothing and she gets thrown out of her comfort zone into this world with Fae and Alpha Males. She learns to fight but still keep her love of all things pink. She’s fierce and still a girly girl and there is nothing wrong with that!

Karou from Daughter of Smoke & Bone Series because she’s like a dream. When I first read this book years ago, it transported me to a magical world with angels and Chimeras and other creatures. Karou was like a unicorn to me with her blue hair, sketching all the time and living in Prague. All of it: the setting, the characters, the wishes, the story was just MAGIC. And Karou was the perfect centerpiece.

Jude Duarte from The Cruel Prince Series. I can’t make this list without Miss Jude Duarte! What can I say about Jude? I love her. She isn’t charming, she’s flawed, she’s bold and brave too. I like how committed she is to her task no matter what happens, she is cold as ice sometimes! She’s smart and fierce and I’m addicted to her and Cardan!

Allison Sekemoto from The Immortal Rules Series. Some characters just stay with you and in a time when vampire stories were about dying out in popularity, Julie Kagawa published this book. This story blew me away – it was a vampire dystopian story and Allison Sekemoto wasn’t only an Asian character I could fangirl about, but she carried a Katana. I mean…YES, please! She’s an Asian vampire who is gritty, snarky, means business and oh so fierce.

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games Series. The series that started my love of young adult dystopian novels. Katniss had a unique name, so I already knew she was going to be special. How can you not love a character who will take her sister’s place in an event where most people don’t survive? She’s a survivor until the very end.

Rose Hathaway from the Vampire Academy Series. Speaking of vampire stories, I was obsessed with the Vampire Academy series! Rose isn’t a full vampire, which was nice – she’s a Guardian, basically a bodyguard for vampire royalty. She got some butt kicking skills, and it helps to be trained by a hottie, right? 😅 Rose is fun, brave and totally fierce.

Tea from The Bone Witch Series because a necromancer like her has to be mentioned as a fierce character. And yes she had the power to raise the dead and bond with scary creatures but what was super fierce about her was her love for her brother. Even just thinking about it breaks my damn heart. UGH. 😭💔

Roselle St. Sismode from Secondborn Series rounds up this list. What a fighter in this sci-fi/fantasy world. I love her and though she’s a badass with a fusion blade, she suffered from anxiety as well. Killing and seeing death is traumatic and I liked that she shows vulnerability because we all break down sometime, right? But no matter how many times she gets beaten down she gets back up and keeps fighting.

And that’s my list *whew* that was hard! I love so many characters!

Have you read any of these series? What fierce female characters do you love? Leave me comment below!

First Line Fridays

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

It’s been a long week folks, with slower reading time for me. Trying to take my time and not feel the rush to finish up a book in one sitting. I tend to do that and forgo sleep but I needed to rest this week. It’s been hot in Hawaii – has summer weather hit wherever you are?

Okay let’s get there lines down…

Scarlett Dragna’s bedroom was a palace built of wonder and the magic of make-believe. But to a person who’d forgotten how to imagine, it might have just looked like a disaster of dresses.

Can you guess?

🔽

I’m 75% done so we shall see what happens in the end! 😱 After this book, I have to finish a few I started but have been taking awhile to finish. What are you reading this weekend?

Happy Reading Book Lovers! 😘

Top Ten Tuesday: Childhood Favorites

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl – definitely check out her awesome website to see more info. This week’s topic is…Childhood Favorites! Not gonna lie – this one is challenging for me.

I did not grow up in a reading household. My parents immigrated from the Philippines to the USA. Growing up as farmers, they didn’t have the luxury of leisure reading in their motherland. They worked hard as children and as adults had to work hard in Hawaii to give me and my sister a better life. So my joy of reading came first from my elementary school librarian. I loved her! She was this petite Japanese-American woman, named Mrs. Aoki, with a high pitched, sweet, soft voice. Story time at the library was always my favorite part of the day!

Madeline – I loved when our school librarian read Madeline books to us in the afternoons before school ended. I wanted to be Madeline in Paris with her uniform and chic hat.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses – I’m not even sure what version our school librarian read to us – all I remember is the story. I love how these sisters snuck out at night (element of danger) and danced the night away. I would wonder where they went and my imagination would take flight. I thought it was amazing to be able to dance all night that their shoes would get ruin. 😂

Cinderella – once again, this isn’t the exact book I read as a child, but I did read the Disney version of Cinderella and fell in love. I loved the animals more than anything. Her gown was pretty and it was nice she got a Prince in the end, but I loved the magical aspect of the book.

Tikki Tikki Tembo – I still remember my first grade teacher reading us this story. It was after a field trip and it was hot as heck, but there were like 15 minutes to the bell ringing to end the school day. She read this book, as we tried to cool off, sitting outside of the classroom praying for a breeze and I got lost in this story. I’ve now read it to my own son and we love saying Tikki Tikki Tembo’s name. 😂

Green Eggs and Ham – This book was my favorite by Dr. Seuss when I was a child because green eggs and ham do not sound appealing. But it’s so funny how Sam-I-Am insists it’s amazing throughout the whole book. I still enjoy this book and my kids love it too now.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales – because I was going to say Rumplestiltskin is a favorite of mine BUT…since I love a lot of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, why not list them as one? Rapunzel, even Cinderella was writing by them, and so many other fairy tales that are now re-imagined today in YA books.

Since I mentioned Brothers Grimm, then I have to add Hans Christian Andersen in here as well! My favorites from him are The Little Mermaid, The Little Match Girl and Thumbelina to name a few.

East O’ the Sun and West O’ the Moon – I remember we saw a play of this story for a field trip in the 5th or 6th grade and I was entranced by the story. Just the title itself sounded magical! Definitely a love of mine and I’m thinking I needed to buy myself a copy and re-read it.

Sweet Ferdinand! The Story of Ferdinand is short and sweet with a lovely message about a bull who wanted no part in the violent world of bull-fighting. How can you not love a bull who loves flowers? He is the sweetest! It’s a story that always made me feel happy at the end.

Last, but not least, the very awesome, The Giving Tree. It’s a beautiful, sweet simple story with a message that relates to children and adults alike. I could read this one over and over again.

There you have it! Ten amazing collections and stories that shaped my love of reading as a child. Today, some of these books are shaping my own children’s love of books and reading.

Did you enjoy any of these as a child as well? Let me know in the comments below. Happy Reading!