Monthly TBR: October 2019

Happy October!

It’s a new month, which means a new “To-Be-Read” pile.
Below is a photo of the books I plan to read this month.

GOODREADS LINKS:

• Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
• Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
• Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

What is your top book pick to read in October?

Happy Reading!

Monthly TBR: April 2019

Happy April!
It’s a new month,which means a new “To-Be-Read” pile.
Below is a photo of the books I plan to read this month.
Have you read any of these books yet? What did you think?

GOODREADS LINKS:

• To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
• Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton
• Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner
• Finale by Stephanie Garber

What books are listed on your April TBR?

Happy Reading!

Monthly TBR: December 2018

Happy December! I know I’m a little late, but it’s a new month,
which means a new “To-Be-Read” pile. 

I’m joining a readalong and a readingathon this month, so my December TBR is filled with some holiday reads and a few more books that I cannot wait to read/reread.

GOODREADS LINKS:

• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
• Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell
• The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees
• Snow In Love by Melissa de la Cruz, Nic Stone, Aimee Friedman, and Kasie West 
• Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
• The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
• Enchantée by Gita Trelease

I’m joining Miss Print’s “Cruel Prince Readalong” this month. You can find the full details here: #cruelprincereadalong

Along with a few of my monthly reads, I am also joining TistheSeasonathon. 

What books are listed on your December TBR?

Happy Reading!

Monthly TBR: November 2018

Happy November! It’s a new month, which means a new “To-Be-Read” pile. 

November is an emotional month for me, so I decided to stick to reading a few of my favorite books to help ease some of that sadness. I have already read all of these books, but sometimes you just need to go back to reading a book that you know is good and will help you cope with hard times.

GOODREADS LINKS:

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

What books are listed on your November TBR?

Happy Reading!

Monthly TBR: October 2018

Happy October! It’s a new month, which means a new “To-Be-Read” pile. 

This month, I decided to keep my TBR simple and FINALLY finish reading The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. I have already read the first two books as ARCs a looong time ago, so I thought it would be a good idea to start from the beginning as a refresher. I cannot wait to dive back into this series and finally see what happens in the end….EEEKKKK!

GOODREADS LINKS:

• The Raven Boys
• The Dream Thieves
• Blue Lily, Lily blue
• The Raven King

What books are listed on your October TBR?

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved During My First Year of Blogging

HOSTED by The Broke and the Bookish

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This week’s topic is…

Ten Books I Loved During The First Year I Started My Blog

(CLICK ON THE BOOK COVER TO BE LINKED TO MY REVIEW OR ITS GOODREADS’ PAGE)

I have been blogging for a year and nine months, and during my first year of blogging I read some amazing books. What are some books that you enjoyed your first year of blogging or reviewing books?

 

The Blogger Aesthetic Award

The Blogger Aesthetic Award was created by Liam @ Hey Ashers! Be sure to check out his original post about the award here. I was nominated and tagged by Kirsty at Kirsty’s Book Reviews. Thank you, Kirsty!

THE RULES:

• Collect any number of images that you feel represent you as a person—your personality, aspirations, favorite things, anything at all that makes you you.
• Put your chosen images together into a collage of whatever size and shape you find pleasing.
• Share your masterpiece with everyone, in all the places.
• Maybe nominate other bloggers as a way to tell them, “Hey, you, I think you’re awesome, and we should celebrate that awesomeness.”
• Share these rules (and maybe the below tips, if you’re feeling helpful).

TIPS:

• Find inspiration by spending (minimum) three hours scrolling through aesthetic Tumblr posts relevant to you.
• Two great places to hunt for pictures are Pinterest and WeHeartIt. Pinterest requires an account; WeHeartIt does not.
• PicMonkey’s collage editor is free to use and doesn’t require an account, heck yes. YouTube has plenty of tutorials on how to use it; I watched this one (which begins with tips on how to find decent photos).

I don’t know if this is breaking the rules, but below is a mash-up of my own pictures that I gathered to express my aesthetic. 

I like to think that this collage aesthetic is me in a nutshell. As you can see I’m a mix of donuts, books, witchiness, Funko Pops, fandom candles, NKY/Cincy sunsets, more books, feminism, coffee love, cemetery visits, cute shoes, books and more books, awesome mugs, organization, tote bag hoarder, fantasy lover, Jane Eyre fanatic, and my furbaby–Josephine the poodle. 

I tag:

Kayla
Laura
Sydney
Rendz
Lia
And anyone who would love to participate! 

The Entertainer Blogger Award

 

A big thank you to Zainab at https://abibliophilesobsession.wordpress.com/ and Ronyell at rabbitearsbookblog.blogspot.com for tagging me and the nomination!!! 

The Rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Add these rules to your post.
• Answer all the questions below.
• Display the award picture in your post.
• Nominate 12 other bloggers who are funny, inspiring, and most important of all ENTERTAINING!

The Questions:

Q1. Why did you start a blog in the first place?

In 2011, I started this blog to talk about books and my geocaching adventures. However, at the beginning of this year, I revamped my site and dedicated my blog to anything and everything book related.  

Q2. What is your favorite book?

Well, I have a few…Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy, Marie Rutkoski’s The Winner’s Trilogy, and Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

Q3. What do you dislike the most?

In the book community, I would have to say people/readers that do not treat authors as real people. 

Q4. What is your favorite food item from the mall?

Warm pretzels. 

Q5. What is your favorite pastime?

Hmmm…other than reading and blogging, I love playing with my dog, writing, and binge watching amazing shows.

Nominations: 

Brittany at Ginger Night Owl

Adri the Bookworm

Megan at BookSlayerReads

Suzanne at The Bookish Libra

Mariam and Ashley at Flying Through Fiction

Alex at The Shadow Girl’s Blog

Alicia at A Kernel of Nonsense

Beth at Hello Beautiful Book Blog

Caitlin and Cynthia at Shelfie Podcast

Madeline at The SFF Bookshelf

Unpopular Opinions: Twitterless Edition

In the last few days, people have been tweeting this picture for “likes” and in response posting their “unpopular” opinions. Instead of tweeting the image, I decided to just do my own list of Unpopular Opinions that I have. 

1. I love making lists: to-do lists, checklists, pros and cons, ALL THE LISTS!
2. I think eating pork is disgusting, and that includes you, bacon! 
3. John Green books are always a DNF for me.
4. I’m an English major who loves math. 
5. If I ever get married, I’m not changing my last name. 
6. I’m not a fan of audio books. 
7. I think the show Modern Family is overrated. 
8. Having Shailene Woodley play Tris in the Divergent movies was the worst movie mistake ever made. 
9. I don’t get the over-hyped love for Jane Austen and her books. 
10. I love washing clothes. 
11. Avocados and raisins are gross.
12. Words like “moist” don’t bother me. 
13. I hate reality TV shows. 
14. I’d rather go to historical/literary landmarks than the beach for vacation.
15. I enjoy sending out cards and letters through snail mail. 

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Day 2 of #BBAW

 

Book Blogger Appreciation Week (#BBAW) is hosted by Estella Society. 

Today’s official topic was Interviews. I did not do an interview and/or have not been interviewed, so instead I have decided to do “25 Facts about Me.”

25 Facts About Me

1. I prefer to read on weekends. I usually read 2 to 3 books a weekend (if I’m not in a reading slump a.k.a. my current situation).
2. I own 8 bookshelves, and still do not have enough shelf space for books that I have in boxes. 
3. I have a slight addiction to owning signed books. I currently have over 300 signed books. 
4. Last year, I bought several Out of Print Clothing tote bags that look like library cards, and had each author I met throughout the year sign it. At the end of 2015, I ended up with three tote bags signed front and back. 
5. I have a Master’s in English Literature with a focus on Victorian Literature. 
6. I have been told numerous times by strangers that I look like Alyson Hannigan. (Supposedly having red hair equals being confused with other redheads).
7. Also, my hair is not naturally red; it’s blond. 
8. I am not a fan of Jane Austen. The only book I enjoyed by Austen is Pride & Prejudice. I have read and studied three other Austen books and I have despised each and every one of them.  
9. My first iconic hero was Amelia Earhart. 
10. I am a strong believer in intuition, fate, and karma. 
11. I like to make lists, and I’m in the process of creating a Bullet Journal (I just learned about Bullet Journaling last night through YouTube).
12. I love animals, and usually name my pets after literary/fictional characters. I currently help raise a toy poodle named Josephine. She is named after one of my favorite literary characters, Josephine March from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. 
13. I am an impulsive buyer. I tend to buy tote bags, mugs, and fandom-themed candles on a whim. 
14. My favorite food is Indian food. I swear I could eat garlic naan, vegetable samosas, and Chicken Jalfrezi every day.  
15. I could also eat Salt and Vinegar chips every day of my life.
16. I am an introvert. I also have a hard time trusting people. I’m working on it. 
17. My favorite TV show is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Say a quote, and I can most likely tell you which character said it and name the episode they said it in.
18. I have never been on an airplane. 
19. I have not eaten pork and beef in over 10 years. This is a personal choice. 
20. I own over 100 Funko Pops! I am an in-box collector, and only collect Funkos from fandoms/characters I love. My younger brother has over 200 Funko Pops, so I don’t feel too bad about my collection. 
21. Fantasy, magic realism, and sci-fi are my favorite genres to read. 
22. I have four siblings. We all have five different shades of eye color. Mine are blue, but vary in hue by my mood. 
23. My whole family is really close. My younger brother is my best friend and a booknerd like me. 
24. I tend to buy a book based on its cover; thus my lack of shelf space for all my books.
25. I drink coffee every day, and I love having a variety of flavors to choose from. This week I’m trying out Starbuck’s Cinnamon Dolce…YUM!