Hi lovelies and happy Thursday!

If it isn't obvious, I'm a huge Stephen King fan/Constant Reader. 

I've noticed a lot of people lately, who either follow me or is directed to me through my followers, have asked me where should they start when diving into the world of King and I'm really happy you guys trust me with these recommendations. I'm always ready for an opportunity to talk about King for a whole entire post, so here we are.

I haven't actually read all of King's books; I'm a little less than halfway as I'm trying to savour as much content as I can as Mr. King isn't getting any younger, but I have read a fair amount - mostly King's "classics" which I'll get into a little later, but I am well educated on the rest of King's novels I'm saving for another time in the future. 

I have a couple of routes/theories on how you can dive into King because I do believe that King can be a hit or miss author, so I think you should go through the route that best sparks your interests!

With that being said, let's get into the different ways you can dive into Stephen King!

Chronological Order

This is probably one of the more common ways of diving into Stephen King. 

This route means you'd start with King's earliest work: Carrie and go through all of the books published afterwards until you've reached his recent release: Elevation (as of January 2019). 

I feel like this route is best if you want to focus on King's universe building. For those who don't know, all of Stephen King's works are based in the same universe and secretly correlate to each other in some way. You'll also get cameos from characters in their non-distinguished novels, like Pennywise in Dreamcatcher or appearances of Richie and Beverly in 11/22/63. 

If you decide to take this route, remember to add Stephen King's works under his pseudonym Richard Bachman throughout your journey as well - there are books that go hand in hand like Desperation (Stephen King) and The Regulators (Richard Bachman).

"Classic King"

This is another really popular route to take when diving into Stephen King. This is the direction I took (and really enjoyed) but it's also the top route I recommend(ed) to people who have asked me in the past on where should they start. 

If you decide to dive into Stephen King by reading the "classic King" novels, I personally feel like you're starting your journey the best way and you're able to get use to his writing and structure. 

If you decide to take this method, you would probably start your reading journey with IT, The Shining, 'Salems Lot, Night Shift, Pet Sematary, Misery, Carrie and/or Cujo. A lot of people say the books he wrote and published when he was heavily using drugs are the best, and those tend to mostly be the classic King (but are also his earlier novels for those who decide to take the previous route).

By Genre

This actually isn't as common as the other two, but there is this direction you could take as well. 

Stephen King write more than just horror; he writes other genres like Literary Fiction, Fantasy and Screen Plays to name a few. 

If you're going by genre, I'd highly suggest diving into his horror books first before diving into his books in other genres. I suggest this only because his horror books tend to be King's best work and his other genre books tend to not be as high up there, rating-wise as the horror. 

If you decide to start with horror, I highly suggest starting with 'Salems Lot, Cujo, The Shining or IT. If you decided to start with the other genres anyways, I suggest diving into On Writing, his memoir, The Eyes of The Dragon, his Fantasy novel or 11/22/63, Mr. Mercedes and/or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon which is some of his Mystery/Thriller novels. These novels are only to name a few, like I said, King writes many genres so it's worth looking into!

By Interests 

This seems to be the more obvious route to take as you'd usually do the same with other authors, but if you're really picky with your plots and reviews under each book, I highly suggest researching each of King's novels and starting with whatever book sparks your interests. 

If you're here for the non-traditional King journey, I'd say look into all of King's book plots and start with whatever novel really sparks you interest by the plot. 

Obviously I can't give you specific recommendations this way, but I can recommend some underrated novels by Stephen King that I loved and had no prior knowledge about. For me, I personally loved Duma Key, Mr. Mercedes, Revival, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and Desperation without knowing much of the plot or without hearing many people talk about it.

Like I said previously, Stephen King can be a hit or miss author so I tried to fit multiple routes into starting your journey in case one route doesn't seem to fit your reading interests.

Those are my four suggested ways on how to dive into the world of Stephen King!

I'm not saying you have to read King books in any of these ways in order to have a great King experience; I'm just recommending a couple of ways you can get started if you have no idea where to start.

If you end of trying any of these methods, definitely let me know! I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

Elevation by Stephen King

Elevation follows our main character Scott as he's noticed he's been continuously losing weight. No matter how many layers he wears and how heavy his clothes are, he still seems to weigh the same weight. A short bind up novella, Scott tries to figure out what's wrong with him whilst trying to mend his rocky relationship with his same sex relationship-neighbours. 

If you're a Constant Reader like myself or have a very good knowledge on King, I know what you're thinking; "Isn't that a similar plot to Thinner?"

Yes. Yes, it is.

I haven't actually read Thinner yet, I've just watched the movie but I can most definitely find the similarities within the two plots.

Although, from my perspective, it seemed like this element wasn't a huge part of the plot. I mean, yes, it's a huge element especially during the end of the book - which I'll talk about later, but realistically, Elevation is based more on Scott's relationship with his lesbian neighbours.

If you don't follow Stephen King on social media, he is very vocal on his political views and I feel like Elevation was just a way to shine light on his acceptance of diversity per se.

I don't disagree with Stephen King's political views, in fact, I believe we have very similar views. But, I can see how a lot of King fans were not a fan of this book because of their political opinions.

He shines a lot of light towards Scott's lesbian neighbours which isn't something that King has added in any of his novels from my knowledge.

I didn't actually mind his element, I was actually quite excited to see a level of diversity added to King's work in which we don't see very often.

Writing-wise, I think it might be a little hard to detect that this is a King novel. Like I said earlier, there aren't very many horror elements that are added besides the excessive losing weight that Scott is experiencing.

Character-wise though, I did end up liking all the characters.

At the beginning, I really disliked Deirdre, one of Scott's neighbours, mainly because she was so aggressive, almost and demanding. She didn't give Scott any opportunity to explain himself when the dog situation occurred (his dog constantly takes a dump in her lawn - nothing too huge, don't worry.) Yet, as he tries to mend the relationship, she doesn't give Scott much of an opportunity at the beginning.

But, I'll have to admit that I do start to end up liking her after we really get to know her backstory which is definitely incredibly sad.

Throughout the novel, you get to know all the characters and their stories, and although this is a short novella, King does an amazing job at allowing the reader to become attached to these characters in the short period of time.

At the end of the book, Scott eventually disintegrate into the air which was incredibly heartbreaking to me. Mainly because we become so attached to this character only to have him "die."

When I went looking for this book on release date, I was hoping for a huge, hefty book; not necessarily the size of IT or The Stand but maybe the size of Desperation or Dreamcatcher, maybe even the size of Mr. Mercedes or Revival.

This book is smaller than Gwendy's Button Box and for those who don't know King books that well, size-wise, this book is smaller than an average paperback book, and is about 150 pages long.

It also runs for $25CAD (It was on sale when I purchased this book on release date so thankfully, I only had to pay $10.)

I feel like King should have kept this novella in a future bind up instead of actually publishing this as a book itself.

It's a well done story, not my favourite King book but also not my worst King book, but I feel King should have published this alongside other short stories together.

I did really enjoy Elevation, maybe more than my fellow peers, but I wouldn't recommend it for all King readers or readers trying to get into King.

 With that being said, I do think this is a great story to read as our world is falling apart.

What do you guys think? Do you think King should have published this in a short story bind up? Or do you like the fact that he published this on it's own? I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

Landline follows our main character Georgie who's marriage is currently struggling as she picks working on her dream job - having her show aired on television, over spending Christmas time with her family. As she finds an old landline in her childhood bedroom, she realizes she can talk to the younger version of her husband. Georgie's first thought is to see what went wrong 20 years ago and if she can fix it, even if that means losing her marriage and kids.

I don't usually read a lot of contemporaries, mainly because I'm a huge fantasy reader.

But for the month of December, the book club I co-host's pick was Landline and I was definitely down.

I've only read two of Rainbow Rowell's books, Fangirl and Eleanor & Park and loved them! (I'll definitely have future re-reads so I can post reviews of them!)

But for those two books, I knew prior to picking the book up, what they were about. Landline, I didn't have a clue.

I haven't heard much about Landline, so I don't know if people before me really liked the book or didn't; I kind of just went with the flow.

When picking Landline up, I instantly remembered how much I love Rainbow Rowell's writing.

Landline is definitely beautifully written; not necessarily in a poetic way but in way where it's so easy to relate to the characters and follow the plot line.

I don't read a lot of contemporaries, but I've noticed that a lot of books in this genre these days typically have some form of deeper meaning to the plot line, which is something I do enjoy, but I liked that Landline was basically just a fun and simple read. Almost like those movies that bring you joy without making you overthink the plot.

I really loved the subtle addition of diversity in this novel though.

Throughout the whole book, we notice that Georgie's little sister has a crush on the pizza delivery guy and continuously orders pizza but when the pizza is being delivered, she asks that no one in her family is near the door.

Until near the end of the book where not only us the readers, but Georgie as well, finds out that her little sister isn't crushing on the pizza guy, but pizza girl. And that is a plot twist I didn't know I needed but I freaking loved.

Another portrayal of how amazing Rowell's writing is, is how much I questioned if she really talked to young Neal, her husband, or if Georgie was just going crazy.

The conversations with the younger version of her husband always seemed to match up, and even with Georgie's sister's comment on how Neal on the phone sounded nothing like himself, obviously pointed out that she really was talking to young Neal from decades ago.

But there are little elements that made me feel that Georgie was going a little crazy and I loved that, only because it could potentially go either way depending on the reader.

As characters are a huge element on how I view the book, I obviously had to see how well I connected to each of these characters and I guess it's safe to say I loved each and every one of them - almost.

I think Georgie's daughters were my favourite as they were so freaking cute, but I really wished they had more "screen time" per se. I really wish there were more moments in which we really got to know her daughters and their relationship with their mother.

I've read and watched a lot of reviews in which people said they weren't a huge fan of Georgie, but I really liked her character as I thought she was so genuine and realistic. I loved the fact that you could feel her decision to stay back in LA to work on the show on her dreams instead of being out of town with her family was something she has always wanted to do, but throughout the book you can feel her regret which ultimately leads to the ending of the novel.

The only character I really disliked was Georgie's friend and co-writer, Seth, who made it apparent that Georgie basically owed him and that is why she's sticking behind to work on their show instead of being with her family.

Near the end of the book, Seth ends up confessing to Georgie that he's fallen in love with her throughout the years and evidently, I thought it was useless information.

A love triangle that actually made me roll my eyes, to be honest because after Seth confesses this detail, his storyline with Georgie is over and he isn't mentioned in the book.

I feel like this element should have been kept out as it was quite obvious from the beginning and throughout all the flashbacks that Seth has always been in love with Georgie and wants her to leave Neal for him, but it doesn't make any impact on the plot whatsoever.

The only real problem I had with the novel though was the ending. I felt that Landline started amazing but ended in a less eventful way.

I was really hoping for some sort of event that could make or break Neal and Georgie's relationship, but it was really bland for me.

If Rowell made the ending a huge slap in the fact - negative or positive - I think I would have given it a 5/5 stars, regardless of my Seth remark.

Overall though, Landline was a really good read, but not necessarily something I've re-read again.

That opinion might change in the future, but for now, I'd love to dive into Rowell's other works.

What about you reader? Did you like Landline, if you've read it? If so, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section or on my blog! 

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Scythe follows our two main characters, Rowan and Citra in which they attend an apprenticeship to be a future Scythe. With the world no longer having "natural deaths," a Scythe's job is to kill off humans and the days go by so the population doesn't over crowd. As neither Rowan or Citra are excited about this role, they must pursue the "art" of taking lives, knowing that it could evidently take their own as well.


For those who don't know, I co-host a Book Club with my good read Johely at astoldbyjohely on Instagram.

I've been in many book clubs since joining the book community, but I've never actually hosted one until now and I'm really excited about it. In the month of November, our book club, NintiesReadsALatte read Scythe as our first book club pick.

I had picked this book club pick, with no expectations and really, no previous knowledge on the book.

I've heard a lot of great reviews though and thought it'd be a great idea to take advantage of this opportunity and dive into this pick.

Of course, you guys know, one of the top things I look forward to in every book is the characters; they play a huge part on whether or not I like the books.

Citra and Rowan are incredibly interesting characters.

Rowan was definitely my favourite throughout the whole entire book. When we first get an insight on Rowan and who he is as a person, we see his bravery as he intrudes a Scythe about to kill one of the popular kids in school. Obviously terrified, Rowan sticks around with the boy and holds his hand as he passes.

I really liked this scene because it was not only sad but it shows Rowan's true personality and potential. Realistically, how many people would stick around to hold someone, whom they didn't have any personal connection to, as they passed away.

The thing that was so realistic though - sadly - was that the rest of the school had no idea how much Rowan impacted the gentlemen and his situation, so they bullied and bagged on him.

As for Citra, I really didn't like her until the point of view basically switched to her.

The whole beginning, she really annoyed me with her "sass" if you will; it wasn't like badass "yaass kween" sass but almost like, "please stop talking" sass.

But of course, the more we get to know Citra and as she grows, I really started to like her.

I really liked the fact that Neal Shusterman hinted a bit of love that could potentially happen in the next book but doesn't necessarily make it a top priority.

These days in Young Adult Literature, there is always some sort of relationship or love triangle, but in Scythe, you feel suspense, almost. Or really want these two characters to be together, but they don't end with a kiss or anything and I liked that change.

The whole plot revolves around the society of Scythes and their purpose to kill because "natural" deaths aren't a thing anymore, and I had so many thoughts on it.

As you all probably know by now, I love horror. I love all things gruesome in pop culture - and if you've watched a horror movie with me, especially a slasher movie, you'd know. But this was on another level for me. And I'm not sure if I just wasn't able to make that connection that this is fiction or because I kept relating it to current society and that thought of it happening in real life, or that this wasn't meant to be a horror novel which is what I didn't see any of this appealing but rather intuitive, I don't know.

But the thought of picking a random person to die and picking how they died, really made me angry.

I didn't feel uncomfortable whilst reading Scythe, but just angry.

One of the scenes that really pissed me off was when a group of Scythes walked onto a plane and started mass killing everyone on it. But not "nonchalant" deaths like our main Scythe, Faraday did will a pill which casues sickness or poisoning or whatever.

But these mass killings were with guns and explosives and what not. It wasn't "cool" like a man with a hockey mask coming out of a lake to kill people will machetes; it was realistic content which wasn't supposed to be horror anyways, that made my horror loving self, roll my eyes.

The writing style, was well done for the most part. I really enjoyed Shusterman's writing; it was straightforward and for suspenseful parts, kept me on the edge of my seat.

But the reason why I'm giving this book a 3.5 instead of a 4 or a 5 was because the beginning was amazing and the ending was amazing. But the middle was so boring, I almost put down my book with the intention of never picking it up ever again.

Had Shusterman pulled the suspense and action and active writing throughout the book, I feel like it would have been a solid five stars for me.

Overall, I'd love to dive into the second book Thunderhead at one point because I hear it is so much better, but I don't think it's top priority for me.

I think Citra and Rowan take the cake on what made me love this book the most.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! What did you guys think of Scythe if you've read it?

Let me know in the comments section or on my Instagram! I'd love to know!

Hi friends!

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Since I haven't been posting for a whole month, I think I owe an explanation to my readers who don't follow me on social media. Basically, the holiday season really took me by the hair and dragged me across the ground because I worked two retail jobs with basically no days off.

You'll notice that in November, I was doing really well with being active and posting, but once December hit, I was working non-stop; forgetting to eat or really sleep and it was taking a toll on my body.

Obviously, that decision was my fault and that resulted in putting not only my blog but my book on the back burner. 

For those who don't know, 2019 is the year I want to get my writing career to take off and that includes my blog. Because my working hours are dying down after the holiday season, I'm definitely going to catch up on the month of posting I've been slacking on.

I have many reviews, and creative ideas I want to post throughout the year and I'm so excited to bring you all along with me!

Now, you're probably wondering: why have you gathered both November and December's Wrap Up together?

Well, because I've been working so much, I haven't been able to read a lot either. So I decided to gather the two up together!

With that being said, let's get into the books I read in November and December of 2018!