Book Haul: December 2013

Hey Everyone!

It's that time of month again, time for yet another book haul. It was Christmas and I of course being me, asked for books. I had the unique opportunity of choosing my own books on my own. I loved going through amazon, with my parents of course, and be like, "Can I get this one?" and just showing them my way of shopping. It was different for them and I think they liked it that way since everything comes in a box and they didn't have to leave home to go Christmas shopping.

* - Christmas Gifts

1. The Selection by Kiera Cass*
2. The Elite by Kiera Cass*
3. How to Love by Katie Cotugno
4. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
5. The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller
6. Ruler of the Realm by Herbie Brennan
   I do feel the need to note I bought this for $1.73 on amazon not noticing it was the third book in the series. C'mon! A HARDCOVER FOR THAT PRICE! I couldn't pass it up.
7.  Emma by Jane Austen
8. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 
10. Favorite Jane Austen Novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion (Dover Thrift Editions) [Box Set] by Jane Austen
11. Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers by Valerie Lawson
12. Bared to You by Sylvia Day *
13. Reflected in You by Sylvia Day
14. Entwined With You by Sylvia Day
15. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
    I need to note I bought this at a half-priced book store and they had the British edition cover. So... the following covers will not match.

The Friday 56 | How to Love by Katie Cotugno

Hey Everyone!

Today I am doing a meme from Freda's Voice and it intrigued me so I thought I would give this a try. Here are the very simple rules:

*Grab any book
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in ereader
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

The book I grabbed is:

Amazon

"In all the years I had known him--and I'd known him, more or less, since I was born--Sawyer had never once asked me to go anywhere."

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Releases

Hey Everyone!

So this week, I found a new tag (shocking, I know) and thought I would give this one a whirl with a whole lotta research. Yeah! Book search! 2014 books!

This is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish here on blogger and they are wanting to know the books we are most looking forward to in the next year.

1. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

I am so excited for this book, words cannot describe how excited I am! I fell in love with The Mortal Instruments back in October and can't get enough of it. I love the world, I love characters, and I can't wait to see what will happen to end this series.


Release Date: May 27, 2014

2. The One by Kiera Cass

I haven't read the second book yet, but I did order it via my father's credit card for Christmas (don't jude-- he lets me order my own Christmas gifts). I loved The Selection and I am not going to lie... this cover is TO DIE FOR. It is gorgeous.


Release Date: May 6, 2014

3. The Queen's Choice by Cayla Kluver

I absolutely loved her first debut book which she wrote when was around 14 or 15. I have all of her books thus far, her latest one, Sacrifice, being officially signed. I have a connection to her as she is from my home state so I also feel obligated to buy all of her books :D I'm okay with this, though! It looks amazing!

Release Date: January 28, 2014

4. The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain

I have never read anything by this author, but the description on Goodreads sounds amazing! I am excited to get this book!



Release Date: March 11, 2014

5. The Falconer by Elizabeth May

I am not even going to lie when I say I look forward to this book. I think I am excited to read something that takes place in Scotland because I don't think I've read any that do. Plus, the storyline sounds so good! Plus, it sounds like it's vastly different from anything else.


Release Date: May 6, 2014

6. Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner

At first, when I saw the cover, I thought of Disney's Brave, but when I read the description, it was more of a Young Adult version of the Disney movie and I can't wait to read it.



Release Date: April 22, 2014

7. The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe

I am not going to lie, I am excited for this book. I have never read any books by this author, but my God, does this book sound amazing. The main character has an autistic sibling, as do I, and so I have a connection in that sense and of course, there is some UK flair in the story with the exchange student.

Release Date: February 6, 2014

8. The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder

I think this book sounds amazing and I have always wanted a best friend who I live near to go around and travel with me in a way that these two do. Plus, who doesn't love the cover? It's so freaking cute!


Release Date: April 10, 2014

9. Fan Art by Sarah Tregay

This book sounds amazing! The whole story sounds cute and would be good for anyone who loves a little contemporary in their lives.



Release Date: June 17, 2014

10. Darksoul by Eveline Hunt

Not going to lie... THIS SOUNDS AMAZING! I am so excited to get my hands on it! Going to buy it as soon as it is released.





Release Date: March 2014 (didn't give a specific date)

I hope you all enjoyed the books on the list for this Top Ten Tuesday tag! Don't forget to leave your feedback on any books you are looking for or if you liked any of these!

Until Next Time,

Reflection Time: November 2013

Hey Everyone!

It's that time of the month where I give you a little insight into my life. I hope you enjoy reading about the lovely times I've had and feel free to share anything in the comments below.

This month I have been participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) where the goal is to write a whole novel in the span of a month. I feel accomplished because it's a hard thing--writing a whole novel in a month. I have big plans for this weighty manuscript and I can't wait to continue on the journey with it. When I was supposed to be writing, I instead found myself on the social networking sites like tumblr and twitter. Tumblr I've always been on, but twitter I would check once a day, but once November started I found myself living on the websites more than ever.

On the weekend of the 16th, I went to my cousin's daughter's first birthday party. She was such a cutie in her little outfit! It was nice to be at a family gathering for the first time since August. Being in college has made me miss my family more than ever. Despite seeing my cousin Paul every other day for my maths class. I just love having quality time to see my family and my (not really) grandparents (they are my cousins grandparents). I just adore seeing the whole family in one place and love chatting with my aunt and my cousins. I love watching all the little kids play together.

One other thing that I have come to learn this month is to not procrastinate. Procrastination is often seen as any human's worst enemy and I can safely say that it is the full blown truth. I am constantly waiting until the last minute to complete any and every project. For example, at the beginning of the month I had a debate planned and I was only waiting because my partner never wanted to meet with me. I like getting things done and you can only imagine my frustration with this. I ended up getting a C- on the debate and 60% on the research because I didn't format it correctly. Seriously? You can't just observe the data I found and go off of that? Ugh... it annoyed me. We got these comment cards from the classmates and everyone seemed to enjoy mine and not my partners. I feel like I got an A just because of those.

I also intended to set myself on a book buying ban, but alas, it never happened. I don't know how I am going to survive when I intend to study abroad in the future. I will have to sleep in bed with my Kindle and transport books back one by one throughout the semester as I finish them. That, or pack REALLY lightly.

I have been conversing back and forth with a critique partner and it has been the greatest help ever. She is so sweet and gives helpful feedback. On top of that, her story is absolutely amazing! I can't wait to read more!

Thanksgiving was also this month and I was extremely blessed to have gotten the opportunity to spend it with the family that I care about the most. They are all spectacular. Take a look at some of the photos that I took on Thanksgiving below:

ADDITIONS TO MY HAUL(S):
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson.

NaNoWriMo 2013: I WON!

Hey Everyone!

I officially won NaNoWriMo and it was my first one. I have no idea if I will ever do it again, but one thing is for sure: I finished my first full length novel. Of course, there is a lot of things to be edited, but it's to be expected since it is a NaNoWriMo novel.

I have huge hopes for this and I'm sure all of you are equally as excited for your own pieces of writing. This one was a huge step forward in a direction I've wanted to go for a long time, I just didn't have the inspiration to write a whole novel.

I want to thank everyone on twitter who I followed and followed me back. The people who also spent countless hours doing word sprints with me. I thank you all because without you guys, I wouldn't have finished this book ever.

My outline for the next year looks like this:
December/January: Draft 2
February-April: Draft 3
May/June: Draft 4
July/August: Draft 5
September: Final touches
October: Begin Querying

That is my timeline, I'll update you guys as the months go by, but I hope you all update me as well on your own writing project. Oh, and I made a mock cover for my book (which I have renamed to Strong).

Until Next Time,

Wrap-Up: November 2013

Hey Everyone!

So today I am presenting you with  my very first Wrap-Up post! I wanted to do this since I see people on YouTube all the time, but I unfortunately don't do the whole BookTube thing. It's awkward considering I live in a dorm room with a roommate!

So if you have anything you want to say about any of the books below, feel free to comment on them!

 

Thoughts On: Where We Are by One Direction

Hey Everyone!

Since today is the release of Midnight Memories, One Direction's third studio album, I thought I would do a review of their book that came out back at the end of August. I held off for today!

The book was penned by Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson, all of the X Factor made band put together by Simon Cowell in 2010. This is their second book next to Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction.

The book is separated into five different chapters all penned by each of the boys. They were clearly written by the boys since each of them seem to have a very different speaking style and reflect on their own thoughts. I know this seems weird and biased as I am a fan, but you could see their personalities in the writing.

From what I can tell, the best writers of the group are Zayn and Harry due to the fact that they seem to be the best developed and from the last book, I could tell this as well. Liam most likely had plenty of editing to his as his spelling is absolutely atrocious on Twitter!

This is a book for any fan! You really get to know the boys in this book and I think it's so interesting to see what it's like to be the five of them. They have achieved so much in the past three, almost four, years that it might seem hard to comprehend how much success they have had. I normally don't read band books, but I couldn't help but pick this book up as I love the boys and am so proud of how far they have come.

Many people seem to misjudge them because of what they appear to be to the public eye, but there is so much to each of them. Everything they do, they do for their fans. They are so gracious for every one of their fans. Heck, they even did an eight hour live stream on YouTube for the fans. I see them lasting a long time.

Their new album is filled with a lot of eighties types of beats. It's a good album, definitely their best yet. I'll post a song at the bottom for you to listen to. One of my favorites which is only available on the deluxe edition of Midnight Memories.

Click here to go to the amazon page for Midnight Memories

Click here for the Where We Are Book

Click Here to Preorder This Is Us their Movie

WWW Wednesday (20 November)

Hey Everyone!

I am doing another meme from Should Be Reading, I hope you enjoy!

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading Angelfall by Susan Ee

What did you recently finish reading?
I finished Fallen by Lauren Kate.

What do you think you'll read next?
Probably World After by Susan Ee or a book I was asked to review. I'm weighing my options

Until Next Time,

Teaser Tuesdays #1

Currently Reading

Hey Everyone!

I am taking part in the Teaser Tuesday meme posted by MizB of Should Be Reading and the whole point of this week is to choose two sentences of a book you're reading and put in two sentences that give away no spoilers from a random page of the book.

The book I chose was Angelfall by Susan Ee. I chose to read this book because the second book came out today and I bought both in a bundle. I received this one yesterday, so what better way than read it and the sequel back to back.

"I clench my fists, digging my nails into my skin to help me focus. No time to feel sorry for myself." Angelfall by Susan Ee p. 134.

 Until Next Time,

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 3

Hey Everyone!

It's that time of week again where I update you on my NaNoWriMo novel!

This week was a little bit of a downer as I had started to "fall behind" in my eyes. In reality, I had over 8,000 words ahead of schedule, but I became so overwhelmed with school work that it was absolutely impossible for me to write every day.

I also did some word sprints with some people on twitter on Sunday morning which was nice. I am so pleased with how many of you lovely people now follow me on twitter, thank you so much. I've gained almost 100 followers since the first and that just makes me feel very blessed that I get to share a little bit of my life with you.

How are you feeling at the moment?
I am feeling wonderful, but a little tired. I seemed to have forgotten my caffeine fix at my house forty-five minutes away. I also am excited because I am getting to the climax of the story and it's just exciting because I never thought I would finish a novel like this ever in my life. I am often known for not finishing.

Did your story take any unexpected turns?
Not really, last week was more of a battle for me in that department.

How is your plot progressing?
Really well! I know it needs to slow down a lot, but that is what a second draft is for!

Favorite character to write thus far?
It's still Jameson. I am still in love with his character and his past. His personality is so interesting, but there is a lot of him I need to change in the beginning because I felt I changed him too much from when he was introduced.

He's this sort of sensitive character who is so vulnerable and that is what makes him more human than Marcus. There is so much depth between Jameson and Harry Styles helped me bring him to life. His eyes hold so much and that is kind of how I want to convey Jameson.

Anything you wish you could change?

Probably the pacing like I have said. Plus, add more descriptions, chapters, and longer chapters.

Current word count?

31,425 words :D

Until Next Time,

Bloglovin

Hey Everyone!

I just joined Bloglovin! Go ahead and follow me on there!


Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I Caved...BOOK HAUL #2 FOR NOVEMBER!

Hey Everyone!

I seemed to have caved with my book ban. I had a feeling I would, though. I have no self control. If you have the same problem, I suggest you watch Marcus Butler's new video. I will put it at the end of the post for all of you to enjoy.

Anyways, after I said I was going to ban myself from buying books, I went on amazon and saw that there were two books (a series) for $10. Quite frankly, I couldn't pass that up because they were so cheap. One was a preorder as well!

So here is my list which will most likely round out my November:
Angelfall by Susan Ee
World After by Susan Ee
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn

I ordered all of them on Thursday so I haven't read any of them as they haven't come in the mail yet. I can also cross two books off of my To Buy for Christmas list to myself. The books on my list were Insurgent and Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. I only have eight more to go!

Until Next Time,

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 2

Hey Everyone!

Week two has come and gone and I would like to fill you in on my week! I hope you guys are all enjoying this!

On Saturday the 9th of November, I participated in my first write-in at my local public library. I got 2,351 words written in the span of two hours. We went in and just wrote and it was fantastic. My sister came along with me, but she doesn't write so she read a book which she checked out prior to the writing session starting. Courtney ended up finishing the whole book before the two hours finished. I was shocked!

It was nice doing the write in because I never participated in NaNoWriMo before and to sit in a room of about ten people who were aiming for the same 50,000 word goal was great. It was a variety of ages and we all had our own methods of writing.

After the write in I was talking to one of my good friends, and someone I trust with my story, about something my writing club at school said (refer to the last sentence of the next paragraph). She helped me think about some things and help me figure out what to do with my story in regards to this issue.

On Wednesday the 6th, I shared the first chapter (though it wasn't the greatest) just to get to know how they liked the idea. Mind you, none of the students in the room are freshman and some are graduating. They all seemed to enjoy the story a lot and can't wait to read more. This makes me really excited about finishing it because I impressed an English major who, I believe, is graduating this year. I am just glad that they liked it, the only thing is that I have to think of a social issue to write about in regards to my dystopian world.

This week, I also got a lovely email from a woman in the UK who was interested in being a critique partner. We exchanged the first chapters of each others stories and she too gave me info on helping with developing my story. She told me what to research to help move along my story and I made a trip to the local library and checked out a few books on the topics.

How are you feeling at the moment?
I am feeling absolutely fantastic at the moment! I have been thinking about my characters nonstop and I don't think I can ever stop because they are beginning to consume me. I wouldn't have it any other way, though. My story that I am writing is something I am so passionate about that I just can't let it go.

Did your story take any interesting turns you weren't expecting?
Yes! I have an unplanned love triangle (damn you Marcus and Jameson) and I kept going back and forth between who was eventually going to get her heart. I figured it out and it was the most magical moment when it happened. It got me all flustered when it happened! My heart was racing and everything!

How is your plot progressing?
It is going good, I am going to try and get the plot progressing and diving into some of the deeper chapters. I do feel as if I'm rushing it a little bit (romance wise), but that will eventually change when I begin the editing process in December or January.

Favorite character to write thus far?
I think at the moment it is Marcus's best friend, Jameson. There is so much to be explored through him and I feel as if I haven't fully explored who he is. Plus, he is portrayed by a beautiful boyband member. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't like writing to this face:

Yes... I really did put a photo of Harry Styles

Jameson just has this depth and secrets that even I haven't figured out yet. I chose to have Harry portray him because I feel as if they share a strong similarity in the sense that there is more than meets the eye. I used that kind of terminology when writing him in because he was this quiet character, still is, but there was a sense of mystery to him. Yeah, he's my other fictional lover at the moment. Alongside Jace Wayland that is :D

Anything you wish you could change?
Hmmm... I just think my pacing because it is going a little fast. I also think the mixed feelings of the love triangle. I need to make it less confusing for the reader.

Current word count?
25,000 and counting :D
That is half way done if you are keeping track :D

Until Next Time,