Library Dreams

Posted October 15, 2015 / Discussions, Features / 13 Comments

Chris and I have been looking into houses, because frankly we have too much shit for our one-bedroom apartment. We both have major hobbies that take up LOTS of space – Lego and reading. We’ve talked about looking into 2 or 3 bedroom houses (hopefully with a finished basement) so I can have a library and he can have a Lego studio. Maybe these are pipe dreams, but we’re certainly looking! We have zero plans for children in the future, so we’re going to let ourselves do whatever we want with our extra rooms!I love Amy’s Nookish posts and have been adding bookshelf pictures to my Pinterest for as long as I can remember. I love planning what I want my library to look like in my nonexistent house, so here are some ideas I’ve been pining over. [Images from Pinterest and/or link to stores] Built-in bookshelves My dad is a great DIY person and has a huge built-in wall of shelving for his CD collection (#dads, amrite?). I plan to have him deck out the walls with built-ins, so I don’t have to worry about buying and assembling a million shelves. I would love to have them around at least three out of the four walls. I know my dad would take care of this for me, so it feels like a pretty achievable goal for this room! I may leave one wall empty (above the bed – more on that in a second) because I’d like to have a […]

ARC Review: Illuminae

Posted October 14, 2015 / Book Reviews / 9 Comments

I feel weird calling myself a black sheep about a book I still gave four stars, but it seems like I definitely am. Everyone else who read this (especially the early reviews back when I read it in July) was literally blown away by how epic it was. Don’t get me wrong – it’s REALLY GOOD. Intense and interesting and crazy and unique. But for some reason it just didn’t have that same WOW factor that everyone else saw. Kady and Ezra broke up right before the book started, when their planet was invaded and they were taken onto different space shuttles. Honestly I’m still a little unclear about what happened and why, but it was crazy and bad I guess. It’s actually impossible to explain much about the plot of this though because (a) not much really happens, if you think about it, and (b) the major plot points are super spoilery. I REALLY LIKED THIS A LOT, I PROMISE. Like I said, there was just a bit of wow factor missing for me. I loved the drawings and the format: so many interesting things to read and look at. It made it pretty fast-paced and intriguing. You really never knew what the next page’s format was going to be. It’s totally unique and adds a lot to the story. I loved following the different chat conversations and official documents towards the beginning, and the format towards the end got fucking intense. I can’t even really pinpoint what parts […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #59: Author Duos

Posted October 13, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 12 Comments

Author Duos You’d LOVE To See Write A Book Together 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 topic is ten author duos you would love to see write a book together. Oddly this is not something I had really ever thought of! The first one below is really the only pairing I’ve thought about. As a result of that, I’m cheating a little (yes, I blame lack of ideas). I chose five author duos, meaning a total of ten authors. Here we goooo! Morgan Matson + Emery Lord I read my first books by both of these authors during the same summer a year ago. I fell for both of them hard and have found a lot of similarities in their style. I usually lump them together in my mind for some reason and I would LOVE to see what the two of them could come up with. Jenny Han + Sarah Dessen These two have written some of my absolute all-time favorite books! They usually involve well-rounded themes involving family, love, and friendship. I can’t even imagine what their book would be like (probably so amazing that my heart would explode). I WANT THAT. Kasie West + Stephanie Perkins My fluffy favorites! I’ve given 5 stars (or […]

Inside & Out #16: Shannon from It Starts at Midnight

Posted October 12, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 9 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Shannon from It Starts at Midnight Twitter: @ShannonMiz| Instagram: @shannonmiz| Goodreads Tell me a little about yourself: ::Goes to visit past posts to see what kind of stuff other people mention:: Well. Those people didn’t help that much. Let’s see. I have two small humans. I am obsessed with The Hunger Games (this is common knowledge, I think?). I love iced coffee, swimming, and travel. I do 99% of my reading and blogging when normal people would sleep. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I blog about… bookish things. And sometimes non bookish things, but there’s usually a tie in somewhere. Basically, I do reviews, discussions, Top Ten Tuesdays because lists are nice and also I like to cheat on them, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I love gifs. I love pictures. I love being ridiculous, so it’s rare to find too much seriousness in any one post. Holly @ The Fox’s Hideaway and I do a feature called “Snark From the Ark” where we chat about The 100 episodes. We’ll be back in January, as will The 100. I host the 2015 Discussion Challenge with Nicole […]

Book to Movie Review: The Scorch Trials

Posted October 10, 2015 / Book to Movie Reviews / 6 Comments

The Basics The Scorch Trials by James Dashner Read my review of the book here. True to Book: Casting: Enjoyability: Overall Score: Goodreads Book Plot Summary: Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch. There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die. The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off. There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers’ destruction—and they’re determined to survive. My Thoughts This was a really action-packed and entertaining movie. I certainly enjoyed watching it in a dine-in theater with a milkshake in front of me, but it was nothing like the book. Surprise, surprise. True to the Book I sort of LOL when I think about this category. These movies are really just so not like the books at all. I don’t even know where to begin and I won’t bother listing how different they are (I already did that for the Maze Runner adaptation). It’s funny because I remember talking about how boring the book was, but this movie had a lot of action and running around. There’s not a lot of similarity between the books and […]

Five on Fridays #17

Posted October 9, 2015 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

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. Previous posts can be found here! As of September 16th, Chris and I have been together for three years. It honestly feels like forever while also feeling like no time at all. Does that make sense? He and I definitely get caught up in the routine from time to time; we spend time together without actually spending ~time~ together. Sometimes we get into bed at night and I feel like I haven’t really talked with him, even though we were together all night. It’s nice to take some time to celebrate anniversaries and special occasions because it reminds you of how long you’ve been together, and not to take any of it for granted. We celebrated our anniversary by getting sushi at the restaurant we had dinner at for our very first date. Of course, if you asked me at that time if that dinner was a “date” in my mind, I would have said no! I didn’t exactly get the hint right away. Chris and I went to high school together and were friends there. He was even friends with my then-boyfriend and spent a good amount of time in our group. After graduating and being at college for three years, we hung out again because he was best friends with a girl I had been spending a lot of […]

Review: We All Looked Up

Posted October 8, 2015 / Book Reviews / 9 Comments

I actually thought this may be a five star read for me… until I got together with my book club. Funny how things like that can happen! People definitely can open your mind up to different things you never thought about while reading. While I do have to say I loved this book overall – especially the message, writing style, and some memorable quotes – there were some areas that missed the mark for me. I loved: The writing, to me, was fantastic. (See quote on the left. PERFECTION). I wrote down a number of quotes and loved the way it FELT. I don’t know how else to explain it. The atmosphere of the book just felt cool. The whole end-of-the-world premise may be a popular semi-trope, but I’ll always be drawn to those books. I think the way this was formatted was cool – like the Breakfast Club at the end of the world. I enjoyed seeing a few different people’s perspectives and how the world essentially goes crazy in preparation of the asteroid. The whole plot was interesting. I really like books that leave an impression on you and make you think. I really started to consider what I would do in their shoes; I loved seeing the different reactions people had, as well as the different actions they took with their lives. Knowing you only have two months to live is crazy enough, but knowing everyone is in the same boat? Insane. OVERALL I have really positive memories of this […]

ARC Review: Signs Point to Yes

Posted October 7, 2015 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

I definitely have mixed feelings about this one. I usually write reviews right away, but I can’t really put all of my thoughts together. It doesn’t help either that it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I started out being a fan of the three perspectives: Jane, Margo, and Teo. It sort of switched between the three of them with each chapter. Jane and Margo had an interesting sister dynamic. They apparently weren’t close before the book started, but conveniently became friends literally right as the book was starting. I also didn’t understand the friendship between Kavi and Teo. It took absolutely forever to figure out why Kavi hated Jane so much, and the reason ended up being completely ridiculous and stupid. I didn’t get it at all. The biggest thing I can say about this book is that it was awkward. Literally one part of dialogue was, “you keep doing these awesome things (69).” I just didn’t feel like the dialogue worked at all. They were awkward characters, but it was further emphasized by the writing style. It was very “he said, then she said, then he said.” The third person point of view was interesting in some ways, but it made everything feel detached and not emotionally connected at all. There was a lot of telling instead of showing, which definitely bugged me. The whole premise of the book was kind of bizarre. I literally wrote in my notes that they had lots of “hairbrained” ideas. Next thing […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #58: Quitting

Posted October 6, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 13 Comments

Five Book Topics I will NEVER Quit Reading About and Five Bookish Habits I Need to Quit 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. I love when the TTT allows me to pick a special topic (that gives a bit of guidance!)… but it usually means I can’t pick which topic I want to use. I decided to split this week’s list into two lists of five. The general topic is ten bookish things I want to quit or have quit. I decided to go with five book topics I’ll never quit reading about and five bookish habits I need to quit. Without further ado… Some of these may qualify as overdone tropes and some of them are just fun things I really will always love reading about. Some of my favorite books in the world feature one or more of these topics. I’ve included some similar topics in my read-bait series (yet to be finished…) because if any of these five things are included in a book, it’ll probably end up on my TBR and/or quickly become a favorite.Give meeeeee. Any book that’s full of banter is one for me. When there’s any HINT of this trope in the plot description, I must have it. I love the idea that two people can bicker so […]

Review: How to Be Bad

Posted October 5, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Just take a look at the rating report below and you’ll know how I feel about this book: very mixed. On one hand, it was kind of a fast, friendship-packed story that had a great road trip premise. On the other hand, the characters were terrible at their worst and annoying at their best. Let’s see if I can explain the pros and cons of this one. What worked The road trip premise is something I’ll ALWAYS be interested in reading. Unfortunately, like an idiot, I read this outdated road trip right after reading another outdated road trip book. Both were written around 2007 so the technology and social media aspect was totally dated. Not a huge deal, but still worth mentioning. I loved the setting (Florida) and the reason for the trip (visit Vicks’s boyfriend at his college in Miami). I also liked that the book switched between three perspectives: one for each girl, written by each author. The girls and their reasons for going on the trip were very different, so that was pretty cool. I liked Mel the most out of the three girls, I think. It was engaging and easy to read. I also am kind of obsessed with the fun cover and am still glad I bought it for my shelves. What didn’t work Man, these characters didn’t work for me. Jesse was judgmental (about everything and everyone) and incredibly religious. Mel was self-loathing and self-conscious. Vicks was the typical bad girl who made terrible decisions. Well, […]