Month: October 2014

Five on Fridays #6

Posted October 31, 2014 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. Rereading Books Everyone knows that generally I don’t reread books. There are SO MANY other books out there I want to read for the first time; I just don’t have time or energy to read something I’ve already read. That being said, my thoughts have kind of changed lately. I started my Gallagher Girls reread (this time in audiobook form) and I’m realizing how fun it can be! I remembered loving the series and the general outline of what happens/what it’s about… but I’m finding that I remember almost nothing about the series plot-wise. If that’s the case with one of my so-called favorite series, maybe that would happen with other books I’ve read in the past. Now I’m having terrible urges to reread all of my favorite books and series! I know that a reread of Harry Potter will be coming soon, as well as Great and Terrible Beauty. Who am I??? Halloween Festivities We got off to a late start this year with our Halloween preparations and festivities. We carved our pumpkin finally last night and did all of the pumpkin picking the weekend before. Here you’ll see Chris using the pumpkin as a head! We also got a cinderella pumpkin and two little gourds to go on the other side of our front door. As I […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin: October 2014

Posted October 31, 2014 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

Hello friends! As you know, I introduced the Bookmark Lit Bulletin as a way of reviewing what I posted and did throughout the month. A lot of bloggers participate in Sunday Post or Stacking the Shelves memes, but I try to stay off the blogosphere on weekends. To that point, I post the Bookmark Lit Bulletin twice a month to serve that purpose. The first is posted for a mid-month update on the 15th, and the second is posted for a monthly wrap-up on the 30th or 31st. I post my book haul at the end of the month. For past bulletins, click here! This month has been a good reading month for me! I really enjoyed the majority of the books I read. I think the biggest disappointment was Rites of Passage. I expected to hopefully love it like everyone else, even though I had a feeling the book wasn’t for me. Unfortunately I should have trusted my instincts. I admired the strength of the main character but couldn’t deal with the hazing and otherwise boring plot. The biggest surprise was probably Damsel Distressed. I had a feeling I’d enjoy it, but the plot completely caught me off guard. It was a much darker book than I thought, but it was very emotional and insightful. My favorite book of the month – no surprise here – was Dissonance! Definitely exceeded my expectations and was the most Lauren Book of all time. We had a pretty busy month on the weekends. […]

Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Readathon

Posted October 30, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features / 4 Comments

I’m participating in the Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Readathon! What’s Going On? The Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Read-a-thon is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Bookshelfery. For more information, check here. From Novemer 6th through 11th, we’ll be binge-reading some holiday stories of our choosing. I love reading books that match the season, so I’m really excited for this one! My Goals Read Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares Read 1-2 other books on my TBR list below I don’t want to read all of these because I’d like to save some for December, but I wanted to give myself the option of choosing whichever book strikes my mood at the time. Possible TBR List My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins and many others Let It Snow by John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson Ex-Mas by Kate Brian Mistletoe by Hailey Abbott, Melissa de l Cruz, Aimee Driedman, and Nina Malkin Snowed In by Rachel Hawthorne Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan Love on the Lifts by Rachel Hawthorne A Christmas to Remember by Jenny Hale Keep updated with my progress here on my page!

Review: Rites of Passage

Posted October 30, 2014 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

This is just going to be a random spilling of my thoughts instead of the usual well thought-out reviews I normally do. I just have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I started it because of the insane amount of blogger hype surrounding it. It sounded like a great “girl power” book that I would really like, despite the fact that the military setting really was deterring me. I decided to give it a try anyways. My feelings are so mixed for a variety of reasons. It fucked with my emotions, man! And not in the way I like for books to fuck with my emotions. Here’s a summary of my thoughts: Beginning: Okay I can see why people like this. Enjoyable narrator, too. 1/3 Done: Jesus this hazing is killing me, I can’t listen to this. I need to stop listening to this. 1/2 Done: Okay I’m about to DNF. This is too hard to hear. 2/3 Done: Hmmm maybe things are getting interesting. ~*RoMaNcE*~ 3/4 Done: Some predictability here. Kind of enjoying this. More hazing. Blah. Ending: You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!11 Grrrrr. So Sam was a fucking awesome main character. She was a badass who would NOT quit no matter how shitty (and difficult for me to listen to) things got for her. Literally nothing could stop her. I was rooting for her and, really, for the advancement of women in general. Matthews was misogynist and awful and I wanted to jump in and […]

Book Buddies Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Posted October 29, 2014 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place on one blog and the second half will take place on the other blog. Without further ado, here’s the first BOOK BUDDIES REVIEW! Lauren: So, what made you initially add this one to your TBR? Cristina: Actually it’s kind of a funny story. I had seen it at a bookstore one day when it was initially released and remarked upon it to my boyfriend that it looked creepy…a little while later he ended up gifting it to me for my birthday! Lauren: That’s awesome! I love when my boyfriend picks up on hints like that. For me, I was kind of turned off by it at first. It looked TOO creepy for me. Recently there were so many people reviewing it that I decided to give it a try! Cristina: I had never come across a YA book with pictures integrated, so I liked the concept but I was also wary that they were going to be really creepy, so it’s sat on my shelf for a while until I had a good excuse not […]

WWW Wednesdays #15

Posted October 29, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 3 Comments

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading, where we answer three questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What are you planning to read next? I’m continuing my Gallagher Girls reread (in audiobook form) with Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy. I have only another half hour or so left and I’m so intrigued! I can’t believe I don’t remember anything about this series anymore! It’s a very good thing I decided to reread instead of just finishing the last books in the series. I first read the books when I was in middle school/high school, so it’s been quite a while! It’s kind of sparking an interest in me to reread books in general! I’ve been dying to possibly pick up A Great and Terrible Beauty series again. Anyways, the book I’m currently reading is White Hot Kiss – my first JLA book! I decided to pick it up on a whim. I went to B&N recently and read the first page of the book and was pretty intrigued. I’m halfway through and not sure how I feel so far. The story is VERY different, which is cool, but I’m a little confused. (Can anyone help me with this? The humans know that the wardens exist, but no one knows demons or other creatures exist? So, what do people think the wardens do? Seriously, if you know the answer, please tell me!) I finished the first Gallagher Girls book, I’d Tell You I […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #13: Halloween

Posted October 28, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 10 Comments

Top Five Books/Movies To Read Or Watch To Get In The Halloween Spirit AND Top Five Characters Who I Would Totally Want To Be For Halloween I’m cheating and combining the two prompts for today, because they both seem too fun! I don’t read a lot of spooky books or watch scary movies, so five should be a manageable amount. The other five items will be five characters I’d want to be for Halloween! Halloween Movies, Shows, and Books American Horror Story: This has become a staple during October for the past few years. The first three seasons are on Netflix, and the current season is on TV right now. They use the same cast each season but they are different characters in different stories each year. The first season was about a haunted house, the second about an insane asylum, the third about witches, and the fourth about a freak show. Halloweentown movies: These Disney channel movies are the BEST. The first Halloweentown movie is obviously better than the rest, but the second and third are decent too. They changed the main character for the fourth one, which is really stupid, but whatever. You know you need to watch them regardless! Tower of Terror: This was another Disney movie, featuring a young Kirsten Dunst. A girl and her uncle investigate a 60 year old mystery in an old, haunted hotel. It’s definitely more cheesy than I remember, but I still have to watch it every year. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar […]

Review: Catching Jordan

Posted October 27, 2014 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

HOW have I gone so long without reading a book about football? The only hobby/interest I have outside of reading? JESUS. Catching Jordan was always kind of on my radar but I literally purchased it on a whim when it was on sale for Kindle. I also decided to read it on a whim because my library books didn’t sound appealing at the moment. I absolutely loved Breathe, Annie, Breathe even though I wasn’t expecting to (not sure why, most likely because running = death)… so I knew that reading a book by Miranda Kenneally about FOOTBALL would be even better. I was right. This is a story about a Jordan, a female quarterback for her high school team. She’s the daughter of some football prodigies but doesn’t get as much attention from them as she’d like because, of course, she’s a girl. She has dreams of playing football for Alabama and won’t let anything stop her… not even when a swoon-worthy, incredibly talented QB moves to to town and joins the team. It was so great watching Jordan find herself and learning about her friendships. There were so many instances where I expected her to keep her feelings bottled up but she surprised me every time; this book had so many opportunities to slip into the predictable YA books I’ve become all too familiar with. You know, the MC refuses to share their feelings or lies about them when people close to her try to help. This book was […]

Series-a-Month Challenge

Posted October 27, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features / 13 Comments

Danielle from Love at First Page shared a new challenge she’s creating that is something I definitely need to get on board with! She is challenging herself to read a full series each month. Like her, I have so many series on my TBR list that I often have no motivation to read…even though they sound great! She says, My goal is to read one series a month, which will also help narrow down my ever-increasing TBR pile. The “rules”: it must be a series (3+ books) with at least 2 books already published, or a completed duology. Most of these have been on my TBR for a loooong time. Some of them I just added recently but seem too good to pass up. The Boyfriend App and Biggest Flirts are both in series where the second book is not out yet, but I have e-ARCs for both of them that I want to read soon. I’m counting duologies. Series where only one regular book is published but there’s at least one novella will also count for me. Here’s my proposed series TBR for the next handful of months: Wish me luck!

Review: Just Like the Movies

Posted October 24, 2014 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

A lot of bloggers I follow weren’t super impressed with this one, but it seemed too cute for me to pass up. I think a lot of them expected this book to be movie reference after movie reference, with constant tie-ins or conversations. Luckily I read a lot of their reviews before reading this so I knew NOT to expect that. I think there was a perfect amount of references that were pretty easy for most people to follow; it used a lot of classic romantic comedies with pretty obvious scenes. Lily and Marijke live in different social circles at school but find themselves coming together to make their romantic lives better. They plan how to make these “movie moments” for themselves: Lily wants to get the crush she’s been pining over and Marijke wants her boyfriend of a year to finally say those three words. Their friendship developed kind of quickly (almost like insta-love but for best friends), but I really liked it. They felt natural for some reason. The characters in general were kind of stereotypical versions of high schoolers. Marijke was sporty, Lily was nerdy, Joe was a badass, and Tommy was in a band. I wish they were characterized a little more than that, but I did like watching the relationships develop. The whole book was full of cliché movie moments, whether they were referencing them or they were happening naturally. It felt very “high school” to me, also. I understand that this book took place […]