My Problems with TV (and Fall/Winter Plan!)

Posted September 24, 2016 in Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

I loooove watching shows. I really used to binge-watch like nobody’s business during college because of my schedule. The earliest I had class was 9:15 sometimes and it was two days a week; otherwise I would never have it earlier than 11. This meant that from basically 9 or 10 PM until 2 AM, I would be in bed watching Netflix. I binged some of my all-time favorite shows this way, including… My binging habits changed once I moved in with Chris because (a) I obviously wasn’t staying up until 2 AM anymore, (b) I started watching shows with him in the evenings and we didn’t really binge, and (c) my laptop was really no longer used as a Netflix-watching-device and just hung around without a purpose. I recently asked for some advice about which shows I should prioritize but I have kind of failed at that too. Let’s talk about my inability to start and/or finish TV shows and how I hope to change it. TV Problems Not enough hours in the day I know everyone feels this way but there is literally not enough time every day to read, watch TV, keep a house clean, cook, go to the […]

What Makes a Favorite Author?

Posted September 23, 2016 in Discussions, Features / 5 Comments

I love finding new authors and reading books that I may not usually pick up… but there’s something comforting about reading a book by one of your all-time favorites. You know how exciting it is when you find out they’re releasing a new book! But I was thinking that I have so many authors I consider to be FAVORITES even though I may not have LOVED every single one of their books. Does this happen to anyone else?? I’ve read most of the books by my favorites but there are a few authors I’m quick to say “YES MY FAVE” but I actually didn’t love every one of their books. It makes me wonder what qualifications I have for determining who is a favorite. Didn’t Love Em All Miranda Kenneally Loved or really enjoyed these: Catching Jordan and Breathe, Annie, Breathe are my absolute favorites by MK. I could see myself rereading and revisiting them for sure. Jesse’s Girl and Defending Taylor come somewhat close behind. These stories are the ones that keep me reading the series without question. Didn’t like or felt meh about these: I have issues reading about religion in books, so Stealing Parker and Things I Can’t Forget were not […]

ARC Review: Cherry

Posted September 22, 2016 in Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Initial Excitement I was sooooo excited for this book when I saw the premise. American Pie for girls? RIGHT up my alley. Of course the lovely Andi let me borrow her copy and I embarked on it pretty quickly. I love stories with sex-positive themes, and this book was literally nothing but sex-positivity throughout. The entire theme of the book! Summary in a Second Four best friends – Layla, Emma, Zoe, and Alex – form a sex pact to lose their virginities by the time they graduate high school. They’ve got less than 200 days to do it and the book counts down with each chapter. The girls have different relationship statuses at the time and their stories unfold in very different ways. I loved seeing the various types of relationships, situations, and feelings regarding losing your virginity. Storytelling & Setting The story was told from each girl’s perspective but in 3rd person. It was hard to really get close to them even though we were kind of in their head a little bit? In any case, I liked getting all of their perspectives because they each had different approaches to losing their virginity. Each had a completely different experience as […]

Paint By Sticker Masterpieces

Posted September 21, 2016 in Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

This may seem out of character for my blog, but I’ve always been an art and museum fan. I even did a semester-long directed study where I wrote a research paper on women artists. When I was asked to join Workman Publishing for this blog tour, I was so excited to join in! I actually had no idea how addicting I’d find it either… Workman sent me a copy of the Paint by Sticker: Masterpieces book for me to complete my own sticker-filled masterpiece. It’s just like a coloring book or a paint-by-number book, but instead you use little sticker shapes. You place them based on the color codes (number and letter values assigned to each sticker and piece of art). During my vacation a few weeks ago, I got myself cozy on my bed with some Netflix and went to town. I was asked to work on Creation of Adam, which focuses on the image of the two hands touching instead of the whole piece. As you may be able to tell from the photo above, there are little sticker shapes that correspond to the blank spots in the piece of art. You just match it up (for example, […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #107: Audiobooks

Posted September 20, 2016 in Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments

Ten Audiobooks on my Upcoming Audio TBR Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. This week’s TTT is: All About Audio freebie — aka top ten audiobooks you should listen to, 10 books I want to listen to on audio, 10 bands you should check out, 10 podcasts you should be listening to, 10 of my all time favorite albums, 10 songs I love, really whatever you can come up with. I’m definitely an avid audiobook listener but I don’t think I listen as much as other people! I always have one going for the most part, unless I need a break. I usually have a pretty good idea what’s on deck for me to listen to immediately when I finish another one, but sometimes I’m scratching my head about what to get next. I primarily use audiobooks if I whispersync from Amazon, the old audiobooks on my Audible account I bought before cancelling, and – most importantly – Hoopla from […]

Savoring a Favorite Author’s Books

Posted September 19, 2016 in Discussions, Features / 7 Comments

I feel like a poser when I think about my favorite authors and their books, because 9 times out of 10 I haven’t read ALL of their books. It’s a weird dichotomy: obviously I WANT to read all of their books… but I also don’t want to run out of their books. You know when you’re just really in the mood for one particular author and nothing else will satisfy you? I’m totally afraid that I’ll run out of books by that author and have nothing new to read from them. This has happened and/or is currently happening with nearly all of my favorite authors. Brittany talked about how there are distinct stages when you find out your favorite author is writing a new book and I think so much of that relates here – the fear and excitement and nervousness and GAH. All the emotions. Why do I wait and hoard the books? 1. I don’t want to run out of their books. I hate the idea that there isn’t a book by my favorite author waiting to be read. What do I do if I’m in the mood for their words but don’t feel like rereading? It’s just a nice […]

September Things and Autumn Bucket List

Posted September 17, 2016 in Personal / Information / Etc. / 10 Comments

It’s no secret that September is my favorite month of the year. I love summertime because the weather in New England isn’t terrible and filled with snow, but the heat and humidity are not friends of mine. September means cooler weather, fall activities, and lots of life events I love – my birthday, my anniversary, football starting up again, the Big E (a New England must), other fairs and festivals, pumpkin and/or apple picking, and so many other things. This post is to share some of my goals for the rest of this month and the season ahead, wrap up some of the things I’ve done so far in September, share my birthday book haul, and talk football. Birthday Recap I didn’t post about my birthday when it happened last week (September 9th) because I had a blog tour that day. I’ve been trying to be better about saving money and budgeting so unfortunately a giveaway didn’t happen either. Regardless, Chris took the day off from work so we could hit up some of my favorite places all day… and end with my favorite food. Here’s how we celebrated throughout the week since I was on vacation all week! Earlier […]

ARC Review: Leave Me

Posted September 16, 2016 in Book Reviews / 10 Comments

Initial Excitement I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw that Gayle Forman was coming out with an adult-oriented contemporary novel. I’ve liked or loved all of her books so far and I personally have been reading more adult books lately instead of YA, so this was a welcome development for me. I had a feeling that she would knock it out of the park. She has a very sophisticated but natural writing style that I figured would lend itself very well to adult fiction as well. Summary in a Second After suffering from a heart attack, Maribeth is so overwhelmed and stressed. She’s trying to get her family up to speed as her husband barely helps, her mom comes in and offers a bizarre style of help, and her kids act like the four-year-olds that they are. One day she just up and leaves. She hides her identity, doesn’t bring a computer or cell phone, and gets an apartment elsewhere. Just like that. Of course, I don’t agree that this is the right move but it’s not hard to see where she’s coming from. Based on her home life at that time, they didn’t deserve her help. It’s really […]

If You Liked This, Read That

Posted September 15, 2016 in Book Lists, Features / 12 Comments

I know a lot of people do this post so I’m not 100% sure if I should be crediting anyone for the idea?? I never felt compelled to do this because I’m pretty bad at recommending books in this way. However, I was inspired when finishing my reread of Before I Fall in August. If you liked some of the books here (some more popular ones), maybe you’d be interested in some of the other (perhaps less popular) other books! The popular one: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver The underrated one: It’s a Wonderful Death by Sarah J. Schmitt Why the rec: Both books have similar themes, but are explored in very different ways. There’s a mean girl who made some mistakes during her life, but a brush with death of some kind makes her rethink what she’s done. She makes amends in one way or another. I liked BEFORE I FALL a bit more, but they’re both seriously unlike anything I’ve ever read! I like anything in that weird “post-life, pre-death” timeframe. The popular one: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach The underrated one: All We Have is Now by Lisa Schroeder Why the rec: I think both of these are relatively underrated, but […]

Late ARC Review: The Year We Turned Forty

Posted September 14, 2016 in Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have been on my list for so long. The plot summaries of their books ALWAYS intrigue me but I haven’t been able to prioritize reading them yet. When I got approved for this one, I knew I had to read it as soon as I could. In this case, ARC August was the perfect time to get it done! I love books about parallel lives and time travel, and this one was a fun combination of both, kind of. Summary in a Second Three friends (Gabriela, Claire, and Jessie) are approached by a magician who offers to send them back in time to when they were 40. They can live the entire year all over again and change how they once handled things. Then, when the year is up, they have to decide to either stay in 2005 and live their “new” lives, or come back to 2015 and continue with their “old” lives. All three have to agree on staying there in order to stay, otherwise they all come back to 2015. Sooooo cool. Like I said, sort of a mix of parallel lives and time travel… but still very much a contemporary fiction/romance […]