January Wrap-Up and Haul!

So this month was a pretty slow one when it comes to my reading. Sadly, I didn't read many books or at least as many books that I would've loved to have read this month. I was pretty busy with school and my art classes and add in the fact that I've been pretty sick for the past few days and didn't want to do anything but sleep and watch Netflix. Needless to say, the last thing I was able to do was read. BUT, I did read two books that I was excited to get to so here's my little baby wrap-up and haul!

WRAP-UP:

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket (ASOUE #6) (Audiobook- Reread)
The Right Family by Susan B. Roara (The Right Family #1)

And I'm also currently reading two books:


I'm really enjoying both books and can't wait to see how they end! 'Morph' by Milliam D, Colella was requested for a review and I plan on uploading that within a few days. Finally, a new review for you guys.

HAUL:

Mixed Bags by Melody Carlson (Carter House Girls #1)- Amazon- $4

The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith- Amazon- $4

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket (ASOUE #6) (Audiobook)- Amazon- $7

Color Me Creative by Christina Webb (Gift for a friend)- Amazon- $5

Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll- Amazon- Free*

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (1952 Edition)- Library- $1  

*I received the wrong edition of Alice In Wonderland that I ordered so the company let me keep it and refunded my money. They were so super nice!

ALBUMS:

Home Soundtrack by Various Artists (Gift for a friend)- Amazon- $4 

Pageant Material by Kacey Musgraves- Wal-Mart- $13

Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson (Deluxe Edition)- Amazon- $7

Don't Forget by Demi Lovato- Wal-Mart- $5

So that's it! 

I didn't buy many books this month which is awesome since I have quite a few things I need to get over the next few weeks for birthdays, art classes, and book releases that I'm really excited about. I hope you guys enjoyed this haul and wrap-up! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Mini Q&A! The How's, What's and How Many's!

Hello my beautiful bookish friends! Today I have a fun little post for you guys that I hope y'all will enjoy and not fall asleep during. Anyhoo, I took to Instagram and asked you guys to give me some questions to answer since I actually get asked quite a few things that I'll be including in the FAQ portion of this post. I got a few questions from some awesome bookstagramers and I'm excited to answer them! Here we go!

Olivia (@oliviascatastrophe) : If you had to get rid of all your books except one, which would you keep? 

Answer: One of the hardest questions I think I've ever been asked, like seriously! I had to think so long and hard about this one and I still haven't actually made up my mind completely. BUT, I did end up finally making my decision and it's actually not that surprising if you know me by now. I would have to say that the one book I would keep is my signed collector's edition of Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Did I mention it was SIGNED? 

I actually have a bigger collection of collector's editions of books and a few books that are signed by the authors so that's why I haven't completely made up my mind on this one. Bare with me for now.

@book.read.love1: What's your favorite book in the color blue?

Answer: My favorite color is blue and it actually surprised me when I realized how many books I own that are the color blue. I guess I'm just drawn to anything blue at an obsessive level. Anyhoo, even though I love every single one of my books, blue or not, I  have to say that my favorite blue book is Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout. I just love it (pun intended). 

Amanda (@letthereadingbegin_): What color is the most owned among your books?

Answer: So just like the last question stated, I own way too much blue in general. That includes about 50 books with blue covers, spines, and naked covers. I think I have a problem with this color. 

AND NOW FOR THE FAQ!! This next portion is a little collection of questions I get asked more often than not and since there have been too many people who have asked me these questions to link you guys to, just know that they're awesome and so very cool.

VSCO Cam

Q: What apps do you use to edit your bookstagram pictures?

A: I literally only use two apps when it comes to editing my pictures and they're not that amazing and completely free to download on Google Play and the App Store. The first one I use is called VSCO Cam and is already a pretty popular app among Instagrammers. With this app, I crop and brighten my pictures because it does it so perfectly without making it look too photo-shopped. I don't use even a percentage of what it has to offer but I still really enjoy using it. Especially since I can load my picture onto the app and see how it looks with the rest of my feed before posting it to make sure it goes with my theme. Yay!

Pixlr

The second one I use is my absolute favorite and it's called Pixlr. I use this one the most because of all the really awesome fonts, filters, settings, adjustments and more and I honestly can't talk about it enough. It's my little photo editing baby. I'm very picky with the apps I use for editing so I'm a little surprised these two made the cut. I also never use filters on my pictures and when I do, I only use the brightening and tinting filters to get rid of any weird yellow lighting and graininess.  

Q: How do you make your collages/Wattpad covers?

A: For this one, I once again break out Pixlr when it comes to my Wattpad covers but I also use apps like Font Candy for the fonts, Fotor for the perfect size crop and PicMonkey for my collages, which is actually a website but roll with me here. The rest is just creativity. I love playing around with different settings and fonts, styles and stickers and I can literally sit for hours working on them. It's just so much fun! Font Candy is my favorite to play with because not only can you adjust the size of the words but you can also adjust the spacing of the letters and it's just so cool.

So that's it for this little Q&A! I really hope you guys enjoyed it and please ask me anything in the comments below and I'll answer them in a future Q&A. Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

The Fifth Wave: Movie Review

WARNING: Spoilers May Be Ahead

There's really nothing I love more than books except life itself, Disney, and going to the theater as often as possible to check out some new flicks. I also really love seeing specifically action films during the cold months, I don't really know why though. It could be just because it's exciting and makes me forget that I'm cold when things are blowing up every five seconds. Anyway, I read The Fifth Wave about a year or two ago and I wasn't all that impressed by it and didn't really understand why everyone was raving about it. I didn't think it was bad, it was just okay. I read quite a lot of sci-fy so it's a bit hard for me to be impressed by another alien/military/survival story. Regardless, I felt like I shouldn't give up on the series just yet before seeing the movie. I literally just now got home from the theater and I'm very excited to be writing this review for you guys, but for other reasons.

PROS:

1. Action

The movie is surprisingly faster paced than the book itself. Not a lot happens in the book and it's faster paced scenes are too drawn out for it to be as exciting as it could have been. However, I loved that the movie added a lot more intensity to the scenes, you know with all the bullets flying, kids going into war and all that jazz. Because most of the action takes place in Ben's POV, the movie wasted no time when it came to building up his character and story-line just like the book did but at a bit of a faster tempo. The movie is more exciting because of that and they were my favorite parts of the movie. 

2. Plot

The whole plot of The Fifth Wave is that aliens have officially invaded earth and are for some reason not making contact or even giving a reason for their mayhem, which is what drew me to the book in the first place. Aliens? Guns? Lots of 'what the heck; moments? That never gets old. The movie stayed pretty much even with the plot of the book, which was nice considering the trend with book-to-screen adaptations is to NOT follow the plot at all and do its own thing. I really liked that the movie didn't stray from the whole point of the aliens gearing up for who knows what. I'm not going to lie, I was not at all impressed with the trailer for this movie because it seemed that it wasn't going to follow the story but I'm happy to say that it kept a lot of the book in and only took out parts that I'm happy were skipped over since it wouldn't have added anything to the movie. 

That's pretty much all I liked about the movie sadly. I did like about half of the cast when it came to Ben, Sam, Teacup, and Ringer. But that's about it. I'm not a big Chloe Grace fan and I had no idea who any of the other people were so I can't say much about their performances.

CONS:

1. Romance

I'm not going to lie to you guys, I hate romance when it comes to survival books. I don't know what it is about the whole romance/end-of-the-world type thing but it always feels so forced and really cheesy. And this movie was no exception. I didn't like the romance in the book and now I pretty much hate it after seeing the movie. I thought the romance should've been toned down immensely in the movie, and it seemed that it was at first. But then you throw in a couple of Nicholas Sparks type lines and a scene that could've been taken straight out of Twilight and you pretty much have the romance in the movie. Throw in the fact that there was absolutely no build-up whatsoever and it was kind of like 'hey, sorry I shot you but I love you, okay, cool.'. 

2. POV's

My favorite character from the book/movie was Ben and Sam. I thought Ben's part of the story was so much more interesting considering he's actually at the army base and being trained along with his unit to go in and hunt down the enemies. During his time at the base, he meets Sam and pretty much takes him under his wing. I loved Ben's parts in the movie and book because you find out a lot of what's really going on with the aliens invading and what the fifth wave actually is or might be. Secrets are exposed, revelations made and once Ben figures it all out for himself, he takes action in fighting for what's right. I think the entire book would've been so much greater had Ben been the main character. I think it would've made an even more interesting adaptation instead of following Cassie who didn't really do anything to contribute to fighting back against the enemies. But that's just my personal opinion on things. 

  

Overall, this movie was an okay watch for me, definitely not something I'd see again or buy on DVD. I'd say that if you loved the book, you might want to watch out when it comes to seeing the movie and it really all depends on how much of it you can take. I personally didn't like the book so I was bound to be disappointed with the movie.

If you haven't read the book or didn't know it was a book and are considering seeing the movie, just know that it isn't that great of a movie on it's own. There are a couple of plot holes that I assume are later filled in the sequel of the book and may I remind you that it does get really cheesy at some points in the movie. Basically, take your chance on it and decide for yourself if you love it or hate it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this movie review! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Top 10 Favorite Songs! (At The Moment)

So if you've been following my blog or Instagram, you probably already know that my obsession with music and CD's is just as bad as my obsession with books. Maybe even a little more crazy than that. I absolutely love listening to music day and night and I'm not even kidding when I say I ALWAYS have my headphones on. Like right now as I'm writing this post, I'm currently listening to one of my favorite songs at the moment that I'll tell you guys about in this post. Anyhoo, yes, I love music and headphones and my collection of both just keeps on growing. I currently own over 70 CD's and I listen to all of them. It's pretty bad. 

Now that we're through with the rambling, let's get into my current top 10 favorite songs! I hope you guys enjoy my little playlist and maybe even find a new favorite. Let me know in the comments which track is your favorite or what other song is your favorite to listen to, I'm always looking for new ones to add to my never ending playlist! This list goes in no particular order by the way.

1. Underwater by Nikki Flores

2. Save My Soul by JoJo

3. Dancing In The Dark by Rihanna (from 'Home')

4. Late To The Party by Kacey Musgraves

5. Stand By You by Rachel Platten

6. Safe With Me by JoJo

7. Let It Slide by Nikki Flores

8. Little Girl Don't Grow Up Too Fast by Carrie Underwood

9. Sticks and Stones by Fugitive ft. Nikki Flores

10. Misbehavin' by Pentatonix

Most Anticipated Book Releases of 2016!

So, with this new year upon us only means two things for me: lots more coffee in my future and plenty of new book releases just waiting to happen. I've seen quite a few people talk about their highly anticipated books of 2016 and I thought I would join in on the conversation. Here are my most anticipated releases of 2016 and I'm dying to get my hands on all of them!

PREQUELS AND SEQUELS:


I am so excited for the new sequel to the prequel of The Maze Runner series by James Dashner! This series is one of my all-time favorites and I can't wait to get back into the world of my beloved characters and find out what goes down in The Fever Code which takes place before the first book.

I'm also dying to get my hands on the third and final book in The Young Elites series by Marie Lu, who is one of my favorite authors and I love her books so much. If you haven't yet read her new series then I highly suggest checking it out if you love a good villain story! Like seriously, I'm obsessed with it. The third book is currently untitled and there isn't an official release date but I'm still so excited about it!



Even though I didn't absolutely love Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, I'm still excited to see what happens in the second book in the series in Glass Sword. I thought the first book was a promising start to a new dystopian series even though it wasn't all that much of a unique story. I thought it was a fun read and it did end in a bit of a cliff hanger which is so not cool with me.

The last sequel that I'm excited about is the last book in the Selection series which is The Crown. This book is the sequel to the The Heir which is technically the first book in a spin-off duolgy but is considered the fourth book in the series and both are counted as still being part of the main Selection series. Yeah, it's complicated but just roll with it. I don't want to spoil anyone on what this book is about so just read the series yourself.

STAND ALONES:


Since I really loved The Selection series, I'm so excited to get my hands on The Siren which is Kiera Cass's new book that actually comes out in just a couple of weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't run into many books about sirens so I think this one sounds pretty interesting, not to mention the gorgeous cover!

And of course, we can't forget about the amazing Marissa Meyer whom has become such a huge inspiration to me as an author. I absolutely adore The Lunar Chronicles series so I'm SUPER PUMPED about her new novel 'Heartless' that is a retelling of Alice In Wonderland. Marissa Meyer is probably the queen (no pun intended) of fairytale retellings so I know it's going to be a good one!

NON-FICTION:


I usually NEVER read non-fiction books but a couple of them have surfaced that I so need to get my hands on this year. The first is 'The Only Pirate At The Party' which is the story of one of my favorite music artists Lindsey Stirling in which she talks about her road to success as an electronic violinist and how she had to struggle not only to get where she wanted to be in the music industry, but also how she struggled with doubts, pressures, anorexia and rejection. I've actually already pre-ordered so this book so yay me!

The second book in non-fiction that I'm super excited about is again by one of my favorite music artists Lecrae. In his book 'Unashamed', he talks about his remarkable story from being a young kid growing up in a harsh neighborhood to winning two Grammy's and touring the world and spreading messages of hope through his music. He talks about his struggles with suicide, child abuse, addiction and much more and his road to redemption and how he was able to turn his life around and begin reaffirming his faith in God and living a better life.

LINDSEY STIRLING

LECRAE

MISCELLANEOUS: 

Now we're down to the novella bind ups that I'm excited about. I obviously need to get the Stars Above bind-up that includes all previous and brand new short stories from The Lunar Chronicles series. I'm particularly excited to read a certain short story that has to do with the 'wedding of the century' and I'm DYING to find out what happens in that story!

Lastly, we have the bind-up of the novellas from the Asylum series by Madeleine Roux which is a series I love very much. I've never read any of the short stories from the series so I'm excited to get my hands on the bind up to change that. I'm so stoked about getting to read more from the world of this series and revisit it in a somewhat new way. 

So those are all the books I'm most anticipating for this year! What book(s) are YOU most excited about? Let me know in the comments because I would love to see what books you want to get your hands on. Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

Review: The Right Family by Susan B. Roara (The Right Family #1)

The Right Family by Susan B. Roara (The Right Family #1)

Rating: MA

Genre: Romance

Score: ❤❤❤

Page Count: 267

Book #1 of The Right Family series

Publisher: Burlington Publishing LLC

Published: September 2, 2015

Lucy has always had a soft spot for Jack. As they grow up together, their friendship turns into something more, but when tragedy strikes, Jack is whisked away, never to be heard from again. 

Several years pass. The boys in high school don't interest Lucy, and she continues to think about Jack - where did he go? What does he look like? Does he think of her? When she finds out where Jack might be located - halfway across the country in Indiana - Lucy drives to meet him, not knowing what she'll find, if he'll recognize her, if he'll turn her away, or if he'll even be there. 

But when Lucy's mom suffers a long-coming mental breakdown, shattering the family to pieces, Lucy is pulled back to Connecticut, left wondering what will become of her and her long-lost love. Blurring the line between friendship and love, responsibility and instinct, The Right Family is a beautifully written story that is not to be missed. 
ADULT CONTENT

I was sent this book by the author in exchange for an HONEST review. All thoughts and opinions are strictly my own with no disrespect to the author.

Review:

PROS:

1. So like I said at the beginning, I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review by the author whom I have to say was so nice! Susan contacted me a few days ago, asking if I would consider her book for review. I took one look at the synopsis and I thought the story sounded very intriguing, especially since I'm currently in a big contemporary mood at the moment. I thought it seemed like it could be a fun read and I have to say that I enjoyed it but not as much as I would have liked to. Without further ado, here's my review:

2. I really liked that there were a lot of factors to the storytelling of this book such as death, mental illness, broken homes and other things that are rarely talked about in the Young Adult literature that I usually read which is what got me wanting to read the book in the first place even though it's not a YA novel. I like reading about those subjects because they're relatable to a lot of people. I liked that this book never strayed away from the seriousness that carried the theme for the story, which made it an interesting read and kept me wanting to know what happened next as the story progressed.

3. The characters were interesting as well, particularly Lucy's mother. Even though I didn't really see a ton of development in the characters, they were all still intriguing. Lucy seemed like a really sweet girl though maybe a little naive at first. Jack and his brother were very open about their home life and how horrible of a mother they had, never denying it or trying to make excuses for her. Lucy's siblings are all interesting too though I didn't really get to know a ton about them throughout the book. There were so many diverse characteristics in each of them that I became invested in wanting to get to know each of them a little more.

CONS:
1. The first few chapters of the book were my favorite parts of it. I started out really loving the story but soon started getting a little bit hesitant to read it because of a few reasons. One of them was that it started getting a little slow which isn't an uncommon occurrence in a novel. I just found myself starting to drag through the story instead of devouring it like I had started out doing.

2. Another thing I didn't enjoy about the book was that it felt a little rushed towards the middle and end, especially when Lucy and her friends decide to look for Jack after so many years of not hearing from him. I would've loved to have seen just a little more conflict and obstacles pop up to disrupt their search just to get me more interested in what was happening, a little more problem solving to figure out where Jack was.

3. I also thought a few scenes were unnecessary or could've been briefly described so the story could continue on without too long of a pause. Just in case you guys are wondering about the 'ADULT CONTENT', there are a few graphic sex scenes that happen that I think could have been shortened. I personally felt that those scenes didn't really add to the story and are probably what made it feel like the middle and ending was rushed for me. The book strayed a little too often from the plot for me which is what made me start losing interest.

4. The book also left me with some unanswered questions about the characters that I'm sure will be answered in the sequel which I was also sent by the wonderful author so a huge thank you to Susan for that. I never like finishing a book and feeling like there were too many loose ends which is why I'm eager to read the sequel and finish this series and find out what happens next to the characters and hopefully get some answers.

Overall, this book was an interesting one and I will be reading the sequel sometime within the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping I'll end up loving how everything wraps up and I will be posting a review of the sequel of course. Stay tuned!

Follow Susan!

Goodreads

I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!

December Book Haul 2015!

Happy New Year everyone! So since I didn't buy many books this month due to me trying to save money for gift shopping- I know six people who all have birthdays in the same week of December- and not many book releases that I was excited for in the past two months, I decided to do a collective post on books and bookish things I either bought or received as gifts. So, before I can ramble on like I always do, here is my little haul for you guys!

BOOKS!

Library Of Souls by Ransom Riggs- Birthday Gift- Barnes & Noble

Slated by Teri Terry- Birthday Gift

Classic Tales of Horror- Birthday Gift

Isn't my book haul for the month just adorable? ;)

CD'S!

Les Miserables Original Broadway Cast Recording- Thrift Shop- $1 (gift for a friend)

School Of Rock Original Broadway Cast Recording- Amazon- $7 (gift for a friend)

Star Wars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack- Wal-Mart- $12

25 by Adele- Wal-Mart- $14

The High Road by JoJo- Amazon- $3

JoJo by JoJo- Amazon- $4

STORY TIME! 

So as you can clearly see, I own two copies of The High Road because of two reasons: (1) when I received the CD, the wrong album was in the case, the CD inside was the first album and (2) I was sent a replacement copy by the seller which was really nice of them! So, I own two copies of both albums even though I only have one copy of The High Road . . . yeah it's weird. MOVING ON.

I also received the Paper Towns movie from my brother for my birthday and recently bought The Scorch Trails movie from Wal-Mart just the other day . . . which leads me to my second story.

STORYTIME #2:

So I bought two CD's, a candy bar and The Scorch Trails from Wal-Mart all together, when I got home from the store a few hours later, I was checking the receipt so I could write the amount down in my ledger. I noticed that the receipt said I had purchased three items and showed the amounts for each item. Upon further inspection, it turns out that I wasn't charged for the movie which pretty much made me like "WHAT?!" It also doesn't make any sense since I saw the cashier scan the movie and the amount showed up on the screen as $19.98. I felt pretty guilty about it since, you know, I like to pay for the things I want. 

SO, that's my weird book/CD haul for you guys. I had a couple of pretty strange purchases happen this month which I hope don't end up happening again. 

Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter! (check your receipts!)