Musing Mondays #12

Posted October 20, 2014 / Musing Mondays, Weekly Memes / 11 Comments

Do other bloggers ruin things for you when reading? I don’t mean blogger hype, which I talked about last week/many times before, but I mean actually ruin or change your opinion on certain aspects of books or plot devices. The biggest one for me is love triangles. Before I started blogging, love triangles honestly never bugged me that much. I thought it was a semi-interesting way to add some drama into the plot. For me, the real winner of the love triangle is always clear from the beginning. Did anyone actually think Bella would end up with Jacob instead of Edward? No. Come on. The second guy in a love triangle is just thrown in to cause some conflict. Is this a cliched plot device? Sure. Did it really bother me? Nah. Then, I joined the blogging world, and pretty much found that my love triangle opinion was wrong. I get why people hate them. They’re done too often. They’re never done right. They’re a cliche. They cause unnecessary drama… The list goes on. It sucks for me now because whenever I read a book about love triangles, I can’t help but think of these other bloggers. Their negative opinion has become my opinion and my first thought when reading these books. It sucks! So many books are ruined for me because I can’t get that out of my head. People have SUCH strong opinions about them that I can’t help but think my opinion is just wrong. I’m sorry […]

Review: The Perfectionists

Posted October 20, 2014 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Yessss Sara Shepard you can do wrong for me. So many people complain that all of her books are the same and she makes series drag on forever… I have no issues with this. Regardless of how similar the stories may seem, they’re always easy to differentiate in my mind. Her writing makes everything suspenseful, quick, and interesting. I was certainly intrigued by the prologue and beginning of the book, but thought the huge amount of characters would get confusing. After a while it wasn’t difficult to keep them separate. The book follows five girls who bond over hating Nolan, the popular asshole guy at their school. They jokingly plot to kill him during their class but end up deciding to mess with him at his party that weekend. By morning, Nolan is dead – and it wasn’t their fault. Their activities that night make them look suspicious and the girls try to figure out who killed him that night in order to clear their own names. The girls are keeping secrets of their own, and in the super-competitive world of Beacon Heights, everyone who knows them is willing to spill them. As I said, the story itself and the setup of the book is fairly similar, but Shepard touches on a lot of different secrets and keeps things interesting. I’m a HUGE fan of her style. She slowly releases information (like why they all hate him, what actually happened that night, etc.) throughout the book until everything comes crashing […]

The GIF Tag

Posted October 18, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 0 Comments

I’ve seen this around the blogosphere and have been dying to work on it. Utterly Bookish, who “tagged” everyone who read her post, compiled this list. I’ve recently becoming obsessed with gifs so this took me way longer than necessary. Regardless, here are my gif reactions to these books! 1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas Yeah don’t hate me but I haven’t read this yet. I plan to ASAP but my TBR keeps getting crazier and crazier… I keep promising people I’ll read it this month but IDK 2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor Another one where my TBR is out of control. I want to read this series too but am too overwhelmed. TOO MANY BOOKS TOO MANY SERIES 3. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray One of my favorite series FOR SURE FOR SURE. I love you Libba 4. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare I was fairly interested in starting this series at some point but I don’t know if I’ll ever have time at this point. I actually got most of the books in a cheap used bookstore and they’re just sitting on my shelf… 5. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen This book is definitely one of my favorite older contemporaries. Sarah Dessen holds a spot in my heart forever for getting me into the genre <3

Book to Movie Review: Gone Girl

Posted October 17, 2014 / Book to Movie Reviews / 11 Comments

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Read my review of the Gone Girl book here. True to Book: Casting: Enjoyability: Overall Score: On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media–as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents–the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter–but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet? Wow! That movie did not disappoint. Overall, I think the adaptation did a great job of choosing the important characters and parts of the book and consolidating it into a manageable timeframe. It missed a few people and made Nick seem like a hero more than it should have, but otherwise […]

Five on Fridays #4

Posted October 17, 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. Girls (HBO) This is my new TV addiction. I said in last week’s Five that I don’t have any time for TV anymore and I was feeling like there were no shows that interested me. Well, literally that same day I decided to stay up and try a new show: Girls. Jesus it’s so perfect and hilarious. It’s just so realistic and interesting; I binge-watched the whole first season before bed on Friday and when I woke up on Saturday. Oddly enough, I haven’t had time to watch it since, but I’m hoping to have some time this weekend. I’m really interested in checking out Lena Dunham’s book now too – have any of you read it? (Not That Kind of Girl) My Kindle Okay so I’ve been a little library-crazy over the past few weeks. I’ve totally forgotten how much I enjoy using my Kindle! I know there’s no better feeling than holding a real book… but there are so many glorious benefits to using a Kindle instead sometimes. I’ve been able to read in bed once we turn off the lights. I don’t have to struggle with finding a comfortable position to hold the book open. I can read using the Kindle app on my computer when I’m feeling lazy at work. It fits much better in my […]

Introducing: Book Buddies!

Posted October 16, 2014 / Book Buddies Reviews, Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

After expressing an interest in finding a “reading buddy,” I had quite a few people apply to join me! It was a hard decision because I really wanted to partner with everyone, but I knew I would be taking on too much. I decided to partner up with two of the bloggers who applied. I do plan to do something with everyone who applied, because this really was a hard choice – keep an eye out from me in the future! Who are my buddies? Cristina from Girl in the Pages || Cristina has such a cute blog that I’ve admired for a while! As you can tell, I’m a big fan of using hearts everywhere on my blog too 😉 She posts incredibly insightful and thought-out reviews. Our TBR lists look really compatible and she brought up some great ideas I hadn’t considered yet for Book Buddies. Cristina and I will focus on standalones and seasonal reads. You can see our partner posts in October, December, February, April, June, and August! Kaitlin from Next Page Please! || Kaitlin reads a lot of the same books as I do and cleverly splits her reviews into a Non-Spoiler and Spoiler section; I love this when I’m reading the review for a book I’ve already read! She suggested some books I’ve wanted to read for a while, so hopefully we can cross those off our TBR lists finally! Kaitlin and I will be embarking on a couple of series reads together. You can see our […]

Blog Tour Excerpt: Chronicles of a Lincoln Park Fashionista

Posted October 16, 2014 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Book Info and Links Title: Chronicles of a Lincoln Park Fashionista Author: Aven Ellis Release Date: September 10, 2014 Genre: Chick Lit, Romantic Comedy Goodreads / Buy It! Book Summary Recent college graduate Avery Andrews is ready to begin a new life in the big city. She’s landed an apartment in Chicago’s famed Lincoln Park neighborhood–and has her eye on the cute commodities trader just a floor above. If Premier Airlines knew about her fear of flying, they never would have hired her to be their marketing assistant—but it’s not like Avery wants a lifelong career. Right now she simply wants a job to pay her bills…and fund a few little shopping excursions, too. Her new lifestyle comes with a price tag, as Avery is not only faced with paying a ridiculous rent but finds she’s perceived as one of the vacant, husband-hunting fashionistas who live in the area. Avery resents this stereotype—so she doesn’t want a lifelong career, and she loves fashions she can’t afford, but that doesn’t mean she is empty-headed and spoiled, does it? When an opportunity to participate in a documentary at work arises, Avery finds a two-fold solution to her problems. She’ll earn extra money for it, and the documentary will show her as a serious career woman, enabling her to shed that husband-hunting fashionista label for good. When the camera is on, Avery attempts to be a motivated professional woman. But when she is challenged by Deacon Ryan, the videographer assigned to cover her story, […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin: Mid-October 2014

Posted October 15, 2014 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments

Hello friends! It’s time for October’s first Bookmark Lit Bulletin. As you know, I don’t participate in weekly haul memes or do a lot of updating on my life each week. I developed my little newsletter here to fill you in on all of the bookish and non-bookish things that have filled my head throughout the month. The first bulletin comes out mid-month and the second bulletin comes out at the end of the month. The end-of-month version will feature my book haul! Thanks for reading xoI started my month by finally finishing Trial By Fire! It was a great book that unfortunately kept getting interrupted by other books with deadlines. My Goodreads tells me I took a month to finish it – yikes. Now that I received that surprise book mail, I’ve anxiously hoped for more! As a new blogger I was pretty surprised when it came to my apartment. I know I shouldn’t expect it too much but now I’m hoping and hoping every day when I check the mail! I’ve read five books since the beginning of the month and finished one audiobook. Overall (as you can see below), they were all pretty great! I wish I could say the same with the current book I’m listening too; Rites of Passage isn’t for me so far. Favorite book of the month: Dissonance! I finally read it and it was exactly what I had hoped it would be. Biggest let-down: I was obsessed with Liane Moriarty after finishing The Husband’s Secret, […]

WWW Wednesdays #13

Posted October 15, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 6 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? and what are you planning to read next? I just started Catching Jordan the other day and am already pretty far in. So far the characters are amazing. I LOVE Jordan and all of the boys on her team that seem to have her back no matter what. I can’t believe I haven’t read a book about football yet considering it’s my entire life during autumn. I’m still working on Poisoned Apples. Because it’s a book of poetry, I’m just kind of slowly reading through them. I’m listening to Rites of Passage on audio right now and I have extremely mixed feelings. I like that Sam is such a badass who doesn’t let anyone bring her down. I like the impending romance that’s happening. BUT – I absolutely can’t stand the hazing and misogyny. I know that it’s supposed to show their attitudes and how resilient Sam can be, but it’s just really hard for me to listen to. I’ve thought about stopping it quite a few times but I’m not one to DNF books. I know the hazing is only going to get worse, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle it, but I like that the romance will be coming into play soon and that she’s starting to figure out what’s really going on at the DMA. I’m interested enough in the […]

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 […]