Friday, March 31, 2017

March Snapshots


1. I've blogged a bit before about how obsessed I am with Happy Hello Art, I added these bookmarks to my collection this month. I don't really know what to do with myself at this point because I have more than 50 bookmarks from that shop. This time I got (from left to right) Peter and Lara Jean from To All the Boys I've Loved Before (in preparation for the last book that comes out soon), another Celaena from Throne of Glass, quidditch Harry, and the trio from Legend of Korra.  /// 2. Celaena hanging out with me while I read the best part of Lady Midnight. At this point I have like 6 different Celaena bookmarks, but I relate to this bookmark as a college student who doesn't sleep and lives off coffee.


3 & 4. Fawkes' first big outing, I took him for a walk around the state capitol, Zilker, and then Auditorium shores. - Jessica

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Lazy Spring Break Days (Vol. 2)


Last year I made a post entitled, Lazy Spring Break Days, and it is one of my favorite posts for its spontaneous feel. This year I was really excited to make a second edition, and just lie in bed all day not doing much. So here's how I spent my day:


As I said in my last post, I am going to try and read as much as I can during this break. I'm currently making my way through The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamine Alire Sáenz, but I did take a little break from reading that book when my new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came in. I did a quick listen through on the audiobook, and I love these new editions. 
I love to color when I listen to audiobooks, and I specifically bought the Lunar Chronicles coloring book to use during spring break. When I wasn't listening to Fantastic Beasts, I listened to Ed Sheeran's new album on repeat. - Jessica 

Friday, March 10, 2017

My Overly Ambitious TBR for Spring Break


I haven't been a lot of time lately to just sit and read and since I'm officially on spring break for the next 10 days, I just want to do that. I want to read at least 5 books over this break, but I somehow managed to pick 7 books for this list. There's also books that aren't on this list that I'm also going to be read, like the new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that comes out on Tuesday. So I have a really ambitious TBR for Spring Break, but that's okay because Goodreads keeps reminding me that I'm behind on my reading challenge. So here are the books I want to read over the next 10 days:
  1. At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson
  2. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamine Alire Sáenz
  3. The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine
  4. We Are Okay by Nina Lacour
  5. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
  6. By Your Side by Kasie West
  7. Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamine Alire Sáenz
So those are the books I'd like to read. I'm definitely hoping to get to the first five on the list, and the last two are kind of bonus books. I'm optimistic about my ability to read all of these, but if I don't it won't be the end of the world. - Jessica

Monday, March 6, 2017

Books I Read in February


I mentioned in my last couple of post that I had a really busy month between homework and school, and I didn't have a lot of time to carve out and read, so I only managed to read 7 books. Here are the books I read and some of my thoughts and opinions on them:

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake - This is the first book in a duology, that follows triplet princesses, who have to kill each other to become queen. I was so excited when I first heard the plot of this book and I couldn't wait to read it, but I think I set my expectations too high and I didn't enjoy this book as I anticipated. I really enjoyed the plot, but I felt that there was too much focus on the romances in this book and not on the characters or their story. I will still pick up the sequel when it comes out in September, but I won't make it a priority.

King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard - This is the third book in the Red Queen series. I absolutely love this series, the first book was riddled with cliches but I absolutely fell in love with the story, and this series has evolved so much from the first book. I really loved this installment and I enjoyed the plot and character development. I can't wait for the last book to come out next year, but I'm a little terrified at what the author is going to do with this series.

Midnight Thief and Daughter of Dusk by Livia Blackburn - This series follows Kyra, a thief, who joins a group of assassins, in an effort to undo the political injustice her town faces. I liked this duology, it was a pretty quick read through and I especially liked the characters.

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab - This is the second book in the Shades of Magic trilogy. I absolutely loved the first book in this series, but I read it almost two years ago and getting back into this world was a little difficult but once I did, I remembered why I loved it so much. I loved how this book focused more on character development, compared to the world building and action packed first book. I also got through half of the last book in February, and I've since then finished it, and I loved it as well.

Twilight: Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer - This is the gender-bent version of Twilight, that Meyer published for the book's tenth anniversary. I was once a massive Twilight fan, I was eleven when I read the first book and it was one of my first foray into YA literature, and the series played a pretty large role in my life for about 3 years. I recently watched the first film (for the first time in years) and I had a really strong desire to read this. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this, I originally felt that this book was going to be awful, but I think Meyer pulled off the gender switch really well. I had forgotten how addictive these books can be, and I'm really tempted to reread the series.

The Crown's Dog by Elise Kova - This is the first book, in the prequel trilogy to the Air Awakens series. I liked this book but it had a lot to live up to, since the Air Awakens series is one of my favorites. This book was really short and felt more like a novella than a novel, and I wish that this had provided more backstory and development to these characters. I still really enjoyed this, even though I had a couple of problems with it, and I plan on reading the second book this month.

So those are all the books I read in February. I'm hoping to have more time to read this month especially since spring break is coming up. I'm planning on doing a readathon and read at least 5 books, I'll be sharing which books I'm hoping to get to later this week. - Jessica