Weekly Highlights: the 'August TBR' edition

Weekly Highlights is a feature borrowed from Faye of A Daydreamer's Thoughts, where I get to highlight my posts of the week, show you my new books and talk about bookish things! 

Holy moley, is it August already? I can't believe the year is going this quick, which is extra depressing that I still haven't found work yet. But I'm trying not to fall down that rabbit hole of depression and focus on what I can do, which is fill out lots of applications and stay ahead in my reading. In other news, the Summer Reading Challenge is way under way, and I've listened to so many cute kids tell me about their books, they really are adorable, especially when I manage to coax them out of their shy shell!

On The Blog

Review of The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman (3 stars)

Review of Nine Uses for an Ex-Boyfriend by Sarra Manning (4 stars)
Review of The Moment Collector by Jodi Lynn Anderson (4 stars)

Currently Reading 

Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi - took a while to get into the world but loving it so far!

On My Bookshelf

Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas
Three teens venture into the abandoned Monroe estate one night; hours later, only two emerge from the burning wreckage. Chloe drags one Reznick brother to safety, unconscious and bleeding; the other is left to burn, dead in the fire. But which brother survives? And is his death a tragic accident? Desperate self-defense? Or murder?
Chloe is the only one with the answers. As the fire rages, and police and parents demand the truth, she struggles to piece together the story of how they got there-a story of jealousy, twisted passion, and the darkness that lurks behind even the most beautiful of faces…

I read and loved Dangerous Girls last summer, so I have high hopes for this one, coming out mid-August! Thank you Netgalley - even though it doesn't have a title on my kindle, which is weird!

The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud
In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper. Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well—until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom. Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood's annoyance. Bickerstaff's coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.

I was surprised how much I adored The Screaming Staircase when I read it last month and by chance I found its sequel on Netgalley! So thank you Netgalley!

We Were Liars by E Lockhart
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

A great find on Amazon kindle - 99p in the summer sale! Now I can finally see what everyone's been talking about!

August TBR

First up, I have the rest of Chapter 5's reading challenge: just Clockwork Angel and Dracula's Guest left! With any luck, I'll immediately continue with the Infernal Devices series. I also have an August release (Dangerous Boys) that I want to read asap. As for my TBR jar, I haven't picked any yet but as I'm ahead in my reading, I thought I might tackle a long book, like Dodger by Terry Pratchett, which has been sat on my shelf for over a year. 

Wish me luck, and let me know what you're planning on reading over August!