Category: Personal / Information / Etc.

Seeking a Reading Buddy!

Posted October 14, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 9 Comments

I’ve been thinking of guest posts a lot lately and partnering up with another blogger for some things. I’ve decided that I’m officially looking for an affiliate/partner/buddy to join in with me for maybe a monthly post or feature on both of our blogs. Nothing too crazy – obviously we’ll both keep our blogs and our normal schedules. (This isn’t for a co-blogger or anything). Let me tell you a little bit about what I’m thinking. Wanted: someone with similar reading tastes, compatible TBR piles, and the desire to read and discuss with me! I want to partner with someone to do a monthly book review (discussion). Instead of a traditional review format, we’ll ask each other some questions about our feelings towards it, share our opinions, and agree/disagree on different points in the book! We’ll keep it spoiler-free like a normal review would be. The first half of our discussion review would be posted on one of our blogs, and the second half would be posted on the other person’s – that way, we can both gain some traffic to the posts and we won’t be repeating content. What I’m Looking for in a Partner Similar tastes in books. Seems logical, right? If you’ve been following me on here or checked out my ratings on Goodreads, you’ll know how we align on certain books. I’m hoping my reading buddy will have some of the same feelings about books I’ve already read so I can be fairly sure we won’t differ too […]

Chocolate Book Tag

Posted October 4, 2014 / Other Memes, Personal / Information / Etc. / 0 Comments

I saw the Chocolate Book Tag throughout the blogosphere and thought it seemed fun! Here are my answers.

Uppercase Box #1

Posted October 2, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 12 Comments

I am very excited that I just got my first UPPERCASE box in the mail yesterday!! In case you don’t know what it is or what you get, Uppercase box is a subscription service with two levels of membership. For the first level, you get an Expert Pick – this is a hand-selected book that the YA experts love and recommend. The Personalized Recommendation box, which is what I have, comes with a book selected just for YOU based on your preference quiz. The boxes are filled with: A book, either chosen specifically for your preferences OR one that is generally recommended by an expert A gift, like bookmarks, jewelry, totes, etc. (that obviously relate to books!) A personal explanation of the book choice and other similar titles Some discount codes for popular book-buying websites Without further ado, here’s my Personalized Recommendation Box! I’ve gotta say, she definitely hit the nail on the head. Pivot Point by Kasie West has been on my TBR list for a while and I just hadn’t gotten around to buying it yet. The bookmarks are so cute – it’s a pad of 25 bookmarks that say “Yes I’m Actually Reading This” with areas to fill in the book, author, questions, words, etc. I loved the handwritten note that came with it! She chose Pivot Point because I like writers similar to Jenny Han and paranormal books. “It’s got it all – fantasy and romance and suspense.” Woohoo! 🙂

The Book Blogger Test Tag

Posted September 27, 2014 / Other Memes, Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

What are your top three book hates? Folding down page corners / dog-earring Folding the book in half so the cover gets all bent (I wish I had a dollar for every time I scolded friends who did this to MY books I lent them) People who shame others for reading YA when you’re not technically in the “age group” — read what makes you happy!! Describe your perfect reading spot. I’ve shared my 10 favorite places to read in the past, but I think my overall ideal reading location would be somewhere outside in the shade with lots of pillows and blankets, a perfect temperature outside, with a coffee (or a margarita! or a beer!) next to me. Tell us three book confessions. I hate cover reveal posts on blogs. I’m sorry! I’m just sick of seeing the same cover over and over again. If you post more promotional things than reviews, I just don’t see the point.. If it’s your most anticipated read of the coming year and you’re excited about the cover, that’s perfect, but otherwise I’ll skip right by that in my feed. I think I’m starting to prefer my Kindle to real books. I know, I know. I really do love the feeling of holding a REAL book in my hands, but it’s so much easier to hold a Kindle. Plus I can read in the dark! I went through a book dry spell for quite a few years. College was just not conducive to […]

Bookish Adventures

Posted September 25, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art & Montague Book Mill My boyfriend and I took some time off this week and were able to have some bookish adventures! We were originally going to head up to Boston for the day, but Chris has been sick since the weekend and wasn’t sure how much walking around he would be able to do. I’m grateful that he agreed to this day though, because he is generally a non-reader (although I am slowly converting him! He’s listening to the Lord of the Rings audiobooks while working and has checked out some Lego books from the library. The key for helping non-readers is finding books about topics that interest them!). We ventured up into the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, which is around an hour from where we live in Connecticut. It’s so pretty up there with tons of farmland – it was the perfect time of year, too, since the leaves are starting to change! Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Our first stop was the museum located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst. We were randomly looking into museums we could go to that were closeby and discovered this one. It was so cute – everyone remembers reading Eric Carle books as kids. The two featured artists within the small museum were Simms Taback, author of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, and Louise Fitzhugh, author and illustrator of Harriet the Spy. I only took a few pictures inside the […]

Happy Birthday to Me! [Personal Updates]

Posted September 9, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 9 Comments

Yes, I’m going to be lame and write a post about my birthday! This is definitely one of my favorite days of the year. I really wish I didn’t have to work today, but having yesterday off was a nice alternative. This will clearly be a little personal post in honor of the day and to give you some updates about my life. As I’ve been talking about for a little while, we just moved into a new apartment on Saturday! It is a major upgrade from our previous apartment in pretty much every way. We have been loving it so far and have spent most of our time enjoying it instead of unpacking our stuff. I’m lucky to have some amazing family members (mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad, sister) who are always more than willing to help with stuff like this. I spent the day yesterday continuing to move things from the old apartment to the new one, so it wasn’t a very relaxing day off unfortunately. I’m happy to be starting my second year-long lease with my boyfriend Chris as we hit our two year anniversary in exactly a week. Today I’ll be celebrating my birthday with some friends at dinner and then going to a local bar with a nice outside area afterwards – nothing too crazy on a Tuesday night. This coming weekend I’ll be up at my college for alumni weekend Thursday through Saturday, so I’ll be sure to have some posts scheduled up so no one […]

A-Z Bookish Survey

Posted September 7, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

Happy Sunday! I moved into my new apartment yesterday and just got the wi-fi set up this afternoon. Luckily I already had my post scheduled for yesterday 🙂 We’ve been slowly unpacking but also just trying to relax and enjoy the first real football Sunday!! I came across this A-Z Bookish Survey over at Under Review, and it was originally created over at Perpetual Page-Turner. Author you’ve read the most books from: Cecily von Ziegesar: I’ve read all of her books aside from Cum Laude. This is the Gossip Girl, It Girl, and Gossip Girl: The Caryles series. Best Sequel Ever: Hmmm that’s tough. I think the best recent sequel I’ve read is Hereafter in the Shadowlands trilogy by Kate Brian. That whole trilogy blew me away and the second book was my favorite of the three, I think. [review] Currently Reading: Currently reading Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler and currently listening to Open Road Summer by Emery Lord. Drink of Choice While Reading: Coffee! E-reader or Physical Book? I alternate between both! E-readers are more convenient for a lot of reasons: immediately having access to a new book once you finish one, carrying it around with you easily, not having to hold open pages, etc.. but you can’t beat the feeling or smell of a real book. Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School: Oh goodness. I think I would have liked Josh from Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins. He […]

Liebster Award Nomination!

Posted August 24, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 8 Comments

This is exciting! I was nominated for the Liebster Award, which is for bloggers with under 200 followers – “new” bloggers – by Bibliophile Bliss! Now, I have to nominate 11 other bloggers and they can win the award by following the four general rules. Thanks so much for the nomination! xo Once you are nominated, you must follow these rules in order to get this award: 1. Link & Thank the blogger who nominated you 2. Answer the 11 questions your nominator gives you 3. Tag 11 other bloggers who have 200 or less followers 4. Ask the 11 bloggers you nominated 11 questions and let them know you nominated them! The 11 blogs I’m nominating: I apologize if you’ve already been nominated OR I nominated you and you have over 200 followers – sometimes it’s hard to tell! The Reader’s Roost Gwen & Kate’s Library A Librarian’s Library Under Review (Pucks and Paperbacks) Miss Rosie’s Reviews Kittens and Books Katherine’s Corner Footprints of an Opinionated Ginger Words We Heart Millions of Books and Way Too Much Coffee Contemporary Light Reads My 11 questions for the above tagged bloggers: What is the best book you’ve read this year? What is the worst book you’ve read this year? If you could recommend one author to me, who would you recommend and why? What is your favorite type of blog post to write? (Discussions, reviews, lists/recommendations, memes, etc.?) Tell me three random facts about you that are not reading related. What […]

This Post is Brought to You by the Letter R

Posted August 17, 2014 / Other Memes, Personal / Information / Etc. / 0 Comments

I was given the letter R by The Broke and The Bookish! For your letter, you share your favorite book, author, song, film, and thing that start with that letter. Interested in participating in this book tag? Comment on this post and I’ll give you a letter! BOOK Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella Apparently 8 out of the 10 “R” books I’ve read are located in the middle of a book series. So, here’s my favorite standalone book! This is a chick-lit book, which I don’t read too often, but I love Sophie Kinsella. This was a cute story about a girl waking up and suffering from amnesia. She doesn’t remember the last three years, which includes her multimillionaire husband and the new life she is leading. I honestly don’t remember too much plot-wise about this book, but I just know it put a smile on my face (as her books normally do!) AUTHOR J.K. Rowling DUH! Do I really even need to explain this one? I actually did try to find an alternative author, just because I’ve really only read the Harry Potter books by her, but she’s pretty much the only option. Can’t say I’m surprised. I like Rainbow Rowell too, but I’ve only read one of hers so far. SONG Okay I have a hard time with narrowing down music because my tastes are so eclectic. Here are my top five. “Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin, because no artist will EVER compare to them. “Ransom” by Drake, […]

Exciting News!

Posted July 30, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 10 Comments

I’m very excited to say that I got my first book from NetGalley! I’m sure all of you well-known bloggers know what that feeling was like. I feel like I won the lottery! I’m so glad someone decided to take a chance on a new blogger and give me an advanced copy of a book to review. Without further ado, I’ll be reading and reviewing: Can’t Look Away by Donna Cooner (to be released August 26th from Point [Scholastic]). I’m especially excited because this is a book I’ve been eyeing for a while. Click on the cover to check out the Goodreads page. Here’s the synopsis: Torrey Grey is famous. At least, on the internet. Thousands of people watch her popular videos on fashion and beauty. But when Torrey’s sister is killed in an accident — maybe because of Torrey and her videos — Torrey’s perfect world implodes. Now, strangers online are bashing Torrey. And at her new school, she doesn’t know who to trust. Is queen bee Blair only being sweet because of Torrey’s internet infamy? What about Raylene, who is decidedly unpopular, but seems accepts Torrey for who she is? And then there’s Luis, with his brooding dark eyes, whose family runs the local funeral home. Torrey finds herself drawn to Luis, and his fascinating stories about El dio de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. As the Day of the Dead draws near, Torrey will have to really look at her own feelings about death, and life, and […]