June 2016 Favorites

Hey Guys!

It's Stephanie, and I was wanting to talk about my monthly favorites.  I do not know if this will become a thing, or if I will just do it when I feel like I have some good things. So, let me know if you like posts like this.

Wow it's June, the year is already half over where has the time gone?!  I swear yesterday was JUST April....  Without further adieu, let's get into my favorites!  I'm going to do a few different categories, and I'm sure they will change from month to month.  

First, my favorite book.  I would have to say Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson is my top favorite book of the month.  Maybe even this year.  It's about a girl named Emily, who is very shy and reserved, and her journey over the summer after her best friend Sloan disappeared.

This seems slightly random, but my favorite food this month is grapes.  When I was grocery shopping, I found some on sale and they are sooooo good!!

I planned on including some makeup or beauty items, but to be honest, I haven't used anything new that I can talk about. Yet.  I was thinking of talking about my current makeup routine and things like that.  

Lastly I wanted to mention what I've been doing with my free time (besides reading of course) I've been writing in my journal!  I picked this up when I saw someone share the bullet journal method, and I kind of adopted it to a style that works for me.  I can do a post about that if anyone had any questions on how to set one up!

Well, thank you for reading!!

Love, Stephanie

Top Five Books I Did Not Finish

Hey Guys!

While I was browsing YouTube this morning I saw Padfootandprongs07 talk about her top five books she didn't finish so it got me thinking about what I haven't finished. 

Please don't be angry with me I'm at a point in life where if I'm not enjoying a book, I'm going to stop reading it.  That doesn't mean these books are terrible, and I'm sure lots of you thoroughly enjoy them, they just weren't for me.

The Casual Vacancy
By: J. K. Rowling

I wanted to love this book, I really did.  Something about it just kept me from diving into the story.  Maybe one day I'll pick it up again and give it another go.

Days of Blood and Starlight
By: Laini Taylor

Oh this book.  I loved the first one Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but each time I've tried to read the sequel, I just couldn't do it.

The Time Travelers Wife
By:Audrey Niffenegger

I picked this book up blind from the library.  They had a special event going that was masquerade themed and all the books were covered, but had a short synopsis.  I tried reading it, but it just wasn't what I was looking for at the time.  I also may pick this one up later and try again.

Mocking Jay
By: Susan Collins

Please don't throw stones at me for this one.  I own the trilogy, and enjoyed the first two books, but once I reached a certain part in Mocking Jay, I just couldn't continue.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
By: Jules Verne

I know, It's a classic.  I tried reading this book on my kindle, which I struggle with anyway, so maybe I'll pick this up in a physical form soon.

Well, there you go!  Five books I did not finish!

What about you?  Do you power through books you just don't love?  Or are you like me and are not afraid to DNF one?

Let me know in the comments!!

Thank you for reading!!
Love, Stephanie

Change of Theme?

Alright, here's the deal, while I love book blogging, I feel like there's no need for me to have two different blogs.  I have a WordPress where I mainly write all my reviews and such so I was thinking I would use this blog to kind of make things a little more personal.  

I want to share recipes, make up, fashion and other lifestyle things here.  

Updates 

• I have started writing a book! #JuNoWriMo
• I am bullet journaling now
• I've been reading a lot more
• Twitter is my jam

I think I'm going to keep the name of my blog, because I think it's cute and I like it.  I will just start posting different things on here to keep y'all on your toes!!



Well, that was a lot shorter than I thought, but I'm excited for the change!!

Love, Stephanie

Thoughtful Thursday, Harry Potter Edition

Hey Lovely Readers!

I've been kind of thinking about re-reading the Harry Potter series, again, and was looking at some of my favorite quotes from the books.  I grew up with this series, and it made me love to read so it will always have a special place in my heart, just like many Harry Potter fans.  I always get the question "who is your favorite character?" to which, I never have a good answer.  So here are a few of my favorites.  I think I'm going to add more later on another post, there's just so much to talk about!

I like Dumbledore for all his wit, and wisdom.  I feel like he's been another father figure in my life, and has just taught me things through the pages of the books.

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live"
-Albus Dumbledore
"Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it."
-Albus Dumbledore

I like Hermione because, she is smart and strong-willed.  Both of these things are reasons why I like, and look up to her.

“At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in, they got in on pure talent.”
-Hermione Granger
“It’s best to know what the enemy are saying,”
-Hermione Granger

Then I also like the twins, Fred and George.  The fact they add comic relief to the whole story makes my heart happy.

“We’ll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat.”
-Fred and George Weasley
“Give her hell from us, Peeves.”
-Fred and George Weasley

Thank you for reading!  I hope these brought back some good Harry Potter feels for you too!

Love, Stephanie

Series I have yet to read

Hey Fellow Readers!

Today, I'm going to throw myself under the bus and call out popular series I either haven't finished, or straight up haven't started yet.  Hopefully this will give me the motivation to finish these this year!

Unfinished

Daughter of Smoke and Bone series
By: Laini Taylor
Books of the series I've read: Just the first one.




The Lunar Chronicles
By: Marissa Meyer
Books of the series I've read: Just the first one again.




The Hunger Games series
By: Susan Collins
Books I've read: Actually most of the series, I got partially into Mocking Jay, got mad and stopped reading.

Not even started yet

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children
By: Ransom Riggs



Throne of Glass Series
By: Sarah J. Maas





The Mortal Instruments Series
By: Cassandra Clare



The Maze Runner series
By: James Dashner




I've heard some great things about these and want to love them too!  The Lunar Chronicles is probably at the top of my list right now.  Have you read all of these, or are you like me and have more reading to do?

Thank you for reading and your support!

February TBR

Hey Fellow Readers!

I thought I would do something I have yet to do and share my TBR (or my To Be Read) for the month!  I normally go to the library every few weeks or so to pick up more things to read.  This month will be no exception, I do plan on reading a couple more, but have yet to pick them up.
The first two books I have picked out to read are from the library.

The first one is:
between shades of gray
By: Ruta Sepetys

Here’s the synopsis from GoodReads.
“Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they’ve known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin’s orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.”
I haven’t read a lot of historical fiction, but I have heard great things about this one so when I saw it I thought this would be a good place to start.

Next I have:
I’ll Give you the Sun
By: Jandy Nelson



Here is another synopsis from GoodReads.

“Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.”


Finally one from my own unread bookshelf!

The Unnaturalists
By: Tiffany Trent


Very short description for this one from GoodReads.

“In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.”

This book looks like it combines a little bit of steampunk with a little alternate worlds.  I’m pretty excited to get into this one.  I mean look at the cover! I’m such a sucker for a pretty cover.

Are any of these on your TBR?  Have you read these and wanna talk about them?  Let me know in a comment!  Thanks for reading!

A Book Review: The Martian

The Martian
By: Andy Weir
My Rating: 5/5

Guys, stop what you're doing at this very moment and go read this book!  Yes, even if you're in the middle of reading my review, I'll wait.

*Waits patiently on you*

Okay, now that you're done, we can get into the review!

Mark Watney, botanist, engineer, and first man to be alone on Mars.  After a severe dust storm forces the crew to evacuate Mars, Mark finds himself alone on the surface clinging to life.  His crew believing him dead flee from the red planet just before their only form of escape fatally tips over.  Having made it safely onto their escape ship, the whole crew wishes there was something more they could have done to save him.

Mark is on his own.  The first step was to grow some food.  Being a botanist did come in handy on Mars!  To grow food, Mark needed to "make" more water.  This is where the book lost me a little.  I'm sure someone else could read this and understand just fine, but it just went slightly over my head.  With some potato plants growing he started to use his engineering skills.  Mark starts brewing up ideas for communication.

After about a month of mourning, NASA takes a look at Mars. They would have to make any images they found public, so for obvious reasons they were very hesitant.  With a nudge from an administrator of NASA Venkat finally caved and gave him the satellite time he was after.  They expected to find a body, but instead they found Watney alive!  There was no way to communicate with him, but they knew he was alive and were working on a way to get to him.

Mark planned to travel to the Pathfinder site.  NASA lost contact with that rover long ago, but he's an engineer, fixing things is his job.  All he knows is if he can make it there he may be able to communicate with Earth, and let someone know he is still alive.

Its been a long time since I've actually wanted to read a book so full of suspense.  After seeing the movie, and hearing such good things about the book I talked about it so much I got it for Christmas. (Thanks Issac!!)

I have so much that I want to say about this book.  I'm a sucker for anything written in journal format and most of this book was done just like that.  Watneys humor kept me laughing through the darkest parts of his journey.  It kind of made me want to be an astronaut.  Kind of.

Stephanie Need this book for yourself? Here's a link to its Amazon page! I do get a small commission if you use my link so it's a win-win! Thank you for your support! The Martian Amazon Page

Thoughtful Thursday #2

Hey Lovely Readers!

I'm back with another thoughtful Thursday!!

I thought I would go with someone that I read last year but never go to finish her series, but plan on doing so this year.  I've picked Lani Taylor, author of Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  I quite liked her first book and am disapointed in myself that I haven't picked up the other two yet, so quotes for today will just be from the first book.

Hope you guys enjoy!

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.
It did not end well.” 
-Lani Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

 “Your soul sings to mine. My soul is yours, and it always will be, in any world. No matter what happens. I need you to remember that I love you.”
-Lani Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

“Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is accord. Harmony.”
-Lani Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

“Because hope comes from in you, and wishes are just magic.”
-Lani Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Christmas!

Hey Readers!!

So, Christmas is in just a couple of days and I can't wait to spend some extra time with my family.  With that being said, I'm going to take a break from writing until next Monday, the 28th to give myself some time with them. 

I have a few books I'm bringing with me so during down time I'll still get some reading done, so don't worry, I'll be talking about new books soon! I may or may not be reading The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling and am pretty pumped about it.

I hope you all have a Happy Christmas, and I'll see you before the New Year!!

Love you guys!!
Stephanie

Your Public Library

Hey Readers!

Alright, my question of the day is, Library or bookstore?

I saw this question raised the other day on a group on Goodreads, and it got me thinking about my own bookish habits.  I love supporting local bookstores, and buying books brand new.  There is just something about the way new books smell, and feel.  It's pretty close to an addiction for me.

As you know, the down side of doing such things is the fact that books can get expensive, and quick. So I started buying books secondhand to save myself some money.  It worked, but in turn I had ended up with too many books on my TBR shelf to be acceptable.

My plan to remedy this was getting a library card at my local library.  At first I was a little skeptical, I mean, do I really want to touch a book that so many other germy hands had been on?  Not to mention the state of some of the books there are slightly depressing.  Looking past all of that, I walked up to the counter ready to get a card of my own.  The process was completely computerized (at least at my local library) and it was really quick.  They even took my picture to make sure it's really me checking out books.

Libraries have so many resources available to card holders and its all free! Yes, free! There is a fee to do things like sending or receiving a fax, making copies, and printing things from the internet.  Those fees are relatively low, and seemed reasonable to me.  My local library even had a section dedicated to researching family history, which I thought was super cool. There is even a "family history specialist" available some days to help with your research.

Did you know they even have foreign language programs you can check out? You could learn a new language for FREE!  That is another cool thing that I have yet to check out, but I am super interested to look into all the options they have.

Your local library may even have some E-Book options for you E-Readers out there.  Personally, I can hardly read from a screen, whether it's my phone, laptop or a tablet.  I really, really like the feeling of a physical book in my hand and getting the satisfaction of turning the pages, which brings us back to my book addiction.

Overall I love the library and will continue to check out books, along with picking up a few new ones as well. Let me know what you think, will you be giving your public library a chance?

Thanks for reading!!
Stephanie

About the blog

Hi!

The name is Stephanie (or Stevie if you're paying attention to the blog title) and I am finally starting my book blog!

I know, you're thinking "ugh, not another book blogger" and I don't blame you at all.  I do plan on being different and not just doing a constant stream of book reviews.  I want to share my love of reading with you and hopefully inspire you to pick up more books yourself.

I haven't always been a reader, to be completely honest, there was a time when I dreaded reading.  In school I always skimmed books I was supposed to read fully, and kind of fluffed my way through all the tests and that got me by. Don't look at me like that, we've all used a Spark Note or two!  Reading never seemed "fun" to me, just something I had to do for my classes.

All of those feelings changed when I found Harry Potter, then the Twilight saga and realized I did like reading more than I thought I did. I spent many nights in my room reading all night to find out what happened next to Harry, Hermione, and Ron. I can not tell you how many tears I shed during that whole series, but I would not change a thing.

So please, give me a chance to ignite a love for reading within you.