New Year's Eve ended with a bang and Mary, Kat and Lillia may not be prepared for what is to come.

After Rennie's death, Kat and Lillia try to put the pieces together of what happened to her. They both blame themselves. If Lillia hadn't left with Reeve... If Kat had only stayed with Rennie... Things could have been different. Now they will never be the same.

Only Mary knows the truth about that night. About what she is. She also knows the truth about Lillia and Reeve falling in love, about Reeve being happy when all he deserves is misery, just like the misery he caused her. Now their childish attempts at revenge are a thing of the past and Mary is out for blood. Will she leave anything in her wake or will all that remain be ashes?

Ashes to Ashes is a whole lot heavier than it's predecessors. For starts, there's a lot of blood and violence- mostly coming from Mary's hand. The book has this really creepy vibe to it especially during the chapters told in Mary's point of view. Almost like looking at everything from a psychopath's point of view. However, Mary is not a psychopath. She's a girl who's out for cold revenge, but she is also just a girl. A lost and confused girl who got hurt way too many times, in effect clouding her judgement. Throw in Kat and Lillia who are still both struggling to cope with the regret and guilt clouding their entire beings and you're in for one hell of an emotional ride.

I really liked that about Ashes to Ashes. Like its characters, the story is incredibly vulnerable and real- almost like it had it's own heartbeat. Reading it was like having an omnipotent force whispering to me to turn page after page and neglect the rest of my life entirely. I was hooked. The suspense was addictive and it will loop you in a daze and won't let go until you reach the end of the line. Unfortunately though, I thought the journey there was a whole lot more exciting than the ending.

I also think that Kat didn't get to shine. The storyline mainly rotated around Lillia, Reeve, and Mary and left Kat hanging around as a character who only showed up when her role was needed- and she wasn't needed that often. I would have liked a little more balance in the role hierarchy, I guess. Regardless, Ashes to Ashes is an explosive read with an addictive plot and strength in it's main characters who are bursting with life. I just think that the ending left a little more to be desired.

A Little Something Different

Before I read this book, I basically had close to zero contact with novels for almost four months. The only books that I managed to pick up were required readings and college textbooks. I dug myself a reading slump hole so deep and I didn't even know if I could get out of it. So one rare afternoon, finding myself with no importat schoolwork whatsoever, I decided to submerge myself in the book blogging world and see what you guys were up to (sneaky, right?) and I found this book.

I don't remember who, but one of my blogger friends posted this book on her Instagram and it piqued my interest. Long story short, I got myself a copy, settled into my reading nook, and completely devoured the whole thing. And guess what happened after I finished the last page? I wanted to read more books! I've been searching and searching for the book that would finally get me out of my slump and I found it in Gabe and Lea's story. Here's why:

1. The story is told in fourteen different points of view. Yup you read that right. FOURTEEN. And each one of the characters had their own distinct voice that managed to pull me deeper and deeper into the story. I guess I really enjoyed this because of the reading slump that I was in; the different points of view gave me entirely different perspectives that tickled my brain cells and reactivated my yearning to devour more words, more stories. And did I mention that these points of view included a squirrel's and a park bench's? 
2.  Gabe and Lea are incredibly awkward-cute. 

"I've got a theory."

"That it's a demon?"

"A dancing demon?"

"No, something isn't right there."

I love awkward-cute people, I really do. I'm awkward-cute, my crushes are awkward-cute, and some of the best people I know are awkward-cute. But the thing about Gabe and Lea is that their awkward-cutenesses merge whenever their together and created this huge intergalactic force filled with cuteness and blushing and oh my gosh just talk to each other alreadyyyy-s

     3. They were more than just awkward-cute. Okay, so most books with awkward-cute characters fit exactly in that mold, learning it, loving it, living it- but that is not the case for our two protagonists. You might think that Lea is one of those girls who stay indoors and read in their room all day, and Lea does do that parties and goes on the sneakiest stalking seshes with her roommates too. Lea is actually pretty feisty and can definitely put a man in his place. Gabe, on the other hand, might sound like a total dork, and he is, but he's an athlete too! He's shy, but not completely socially awkward. He just had his reasons, that's all. So yes! Character building and development were so on par and timely. It almost kind of felt like reading a collective journal.

     4. It didn't kill any brain cells. When you're reading, your brain cells might die because of two reasons: one, the story was so incredibly complex and mindblowingly heavy to intake or two, the story was so incredibly bland and stupid and you just want to hit every character with a stick. A Little Something Different sounds like a cutesy lovestory that would fit into the latter, but thankfully no brain cells were harmed while reading. It is a love story, and it is cute, but it isn't stupid or bland at all. It's one of those books that manage to melt your ice cold heart at each turn of the page and make you feel weird bubbly emotions at the pit of your stomach, but it has intellect too. It's smart and witty, and while it melts your heart it doesn't melt your brain.

     5. It pretty much told the story of my life. A Little Something Different is set during Lea's first year at uni and since i'm a freshman in college too, I could relate to so much of what she was going through. The hesitance, the insecurity, the fear of the unknown, the crush that I have on the cute guy who sits next to me in almost all of our classes- umm scratch that last part out haha! I don't think that my college profs pair me up with the guys in class, but there's still a chance right?

But yes, dear bookish friends, it kind of was like reading the story of my life. I used to like a guy, and this guy used to like me, and everyone knew except for us. My friends and his friends were so tired of us beating around the bush about things but like Lea, I was just so scared of the bad things that might happen. That was an old chapter in my life, but reading A Little Something Different made me want to blow off the dust and open it up again. I guess my instant connection with Lea gave me a stronger connection with the story and that's why I loved it even more. When a book hits home with you, it's a keeper for life.

The Fault in Our Stars
Director: Josh Boone
Story by: John Green
Running time: 125 minutes
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff

Entering the cinema with a fervent anticipation and coming out puffy-eyed is the fault of The Fault in Our Stars’s movie adaptation. A throng of avid readers and new fans alike deluged movie theatres all over the globe as the much-awaited bestselling young-adult novel penned by John Green hit the big screen. As book-to-film adaptions start becoming a common ground in the movie industry today, director Josh Boone proves himself exceptional and remarkably keen; the TFIOS movie is almost accurate down to the tears-stained pages.

Rating: 93%

The Things You Kiss Goodbye

by Leslie Connor

Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary

Expected Publication: June 24th 2014 by Katherine Tegen Books

Source: ARC from Publisher

Bettina Vasilis can hardly believe it when basketball star Brady Cullen asks her out, and she just about faints when her strict father actually approves of him.

But when school starts up again, Brady changes. What happened to the sweet boy she fell in love with? Then she meets a smoldering guy in his twenties, and this “cowboy” is everything Brady is not—gentle, caring, and interested in getting to know the real Bettina.

Bettina knows that breaking up with Brady would mean giving up her freedom—and that it would be inappropriate for anything to happen between her and Cowboy. Still, she can’t help that she longs for the scent of his auto shop whenever she’s anywhere else.

When tragedy strikes, Bettina must tell her family the truth—and kiss goodbye the things she thought she knew about herself and the men in her life.

Leslie Connor has written a lyrical, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful story about family, romance, and the immense power of love.

Say What You Will
by Cammie McGovern
Genre: Young Adult - Contemporary
Expected publication date: June 3rd 2014 by HarperTeen
Source: ARC

Goodreads // Author's Website

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

Honest, compelling, and completely heartwarming. Those three words don't even begin to describe Say What You Will in it's entirety. It isn't at all the easy light read that I was expecting, no. From the moment I flipped to page two, I was thrown into the messy life of Amy, a teenage girl with cerebral palsy, and Matthew, a boy who's hiding the fact that he has severe OCD.

Hello bookish universe! It's been a while, I know. How many months have passed since I last published a post, I wonder? Five, six, probably more? I guess I've been a very bad blogger. That was the whole root of the problem I guess: I felt like I was a bad blogger. I felt like I was a bad blogger because I didn't have posts ready to be published every other day, I felt like a bad blogger because I had tons of books left unread; because I was drowning in unread emails and books for review and it came to the point where I just didn't want to read any of it anymore. I was so overwhelmed and I just wanted to run away from it all. And I did.

However, no matter how far we wander from it, we will always find ourselves crawling back to reading. Slowly, and then all at once. I know it sounds extremely dramatic but even if the entire world lets you down, there is always a book somewhere that will make you believe that things just might get better. And so here I am, slowly crawling back into the bookish blogging world again. This time, I won't hassle myself with tight schedules and scary deadlines and the need to post something just because I feel like I have to. Bloggers blog for their readers; they blog for authors, fellow bloggers, and anyone who wouldn't mind spending hours on end with their nose in a book. Most importantly, bloggers blog for themselves. I know that now.

And so, dear readers, I present to you a new version of The Selkie Reads Stories: THE READING SLUMP.



Same old Ellie and Kyle, but with a different approach to blogging- no to stress! I'm going to be a college freshman this coming June and Kyle's entering his senior year of high school, so the two of us decided to be as chill as possible when it comes to blogging to avoid a textbook pile vs TBR pile war. And it's not just going to be reviews and memes anymore, we're going to mix things up and post about other things too- like photography and our lives outside of blogging. We want to really fully enjoy the blogging experience this time around, and we'd love it if you went on this journey with us! You'll be hearing from us again -real- soon. xx