Wednesday 6 December 2017

November Wrap Up



Finished 


Paper Girls, Vol. 3 (Paper Girls, #3) Incarnate (Newsoul, #1) Holes What to Say Next
  
This latest episode of Paper Girls was kind of weird, I definitely was left with more questions than answers again, and I'm intrigued how its all going to come together as some stage (or if it ever does?)

Of course because its coming to the end of the year, I decide its a good time to start another series with Incarnate (instead of finishing the piling list I have). It's got some interesting ideas about reincarnation which are pretty unique and the story was pretty good if a little lagging sometimes. Holes, was my favorite book of the month. It got me out of my reading slump as it always does. One of my favorite childhood books. 

What to Say Next was also a great read this month, about an unlikely friendship between a popular girl whose recently lost her father and the 'odd' boy at school who has Aspergers. Very sweet and funny, but also addressing the cruelty of others for being 'different'. 


Up Next In December


I have high hopes for my reading in December. I'm taking annual leave in a few weeks till early January so I'm hoping to dedicate some of my time to finishing my Goodreads challenge, amongst all the Chrsitmas prep and holiday madness. So far on my list I have. 

    Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3) The Upside of Unrequited Kiss Kill Vanish  

Asunder (Newsoul, #2) Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #3)

Other Updates 



I really enjoyed using my bullet journal this year to document all my crazy lists and notes. I was good at updating these things throughout the year, but I was quite bad at setting up each month for everyday life tracking and planning. 

Unfortunately that also means I'm left with a whole bunch of empty pages in my bullet journal which seems like a waste. I think next year I am going to revert back to a planner for everyday use for my tasks, and use a smaller moleskine journal for my fun list making and goalsetting etc. 


For those of you who used bullet journals, how did you find them? Any adjustments for next year?


Sunday 3 December 2017

Thanksgiving Book Tag

OK, so we don't actually do Thanksgiving down here in little old New Zealand (and it's been over a week since Thanksgiving)  but I thought i'd give this one a go. 

This tag was originally put up by Fangirlscity on Youtube- go HERE to check out their video. 




Kiss Crush Collide
BREAD- What book is purely fluff, and has no real plot line?



 Kiss Crush Collide

One of the first books I ever reviewed on my blog, and it was complete and utter fluff (but not even good fluff unfortunately)



Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Between, #1)


 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea


 It wasn't completely bad, but it was a great cure for my insomnia. Maybe it was the overly descriptive prose that lulled me off to sleep i'm not sure.



The One (The Selection, #3)

The One


This is a hard one for me since I am chronic for not finishing series. I loved all the books in this series, but this one was by far my favorite, because everything gets wrapped up and everything turned out how I wanted it.


Not a Drop to Drink (Not a Drop to Drink, #1)


 Not a Drop to Drink


Wow, this book (and it's sequel) are super packed with all the action and drama you could ask for. It was one of my top books of last year and will definitely be reread in the future. 

Biggest Flirts (Superlatives, #1)

Biggest Flirts


I was really excited for this series, but felt really let down by this book. I found it hard to connect with the main character and that impacted my enjoyment. The other books in the series feature different characters so I might give those a go.


  

The Avery Shaw Experiment


This book is so sweet and the budding romance between Avery and Grayson is adorable especially since they've known each other since they were kids, but Grayson has only ever seen Avery as his annoying little brother best friend. 


Fallen (Fallen, #1) 


Fallen


 Probably longer than it needed to be really. End of story.



Holes


Holes


This is one of my favorite childhood books and it never fails to get me back into reading. 





I'm not that familiar with traditional Thanksgiving foods but I love a good baked/glazed ham and I am definitely having one at Christmas time. Delicious! 

Image result for christmas ham


Monday 6 November 2017

Wrap Up (many, many months)



Finished 

Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) By Your Side Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)

In Real Life Plain Truth Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)

Alex, Approximately The Fault in Our Stars Wesley James Ruined My Life

Brave New World Apeshit   Paper Girls, Vol. 1 (Paper Girls, #1) Paper Girls, Vol. 2 (Paper Girls, #2)
  
So over the last couple...OK, OK, like 6 months I've dabbled in all sorts with my reading. I tried for the first time Bizarro fiction which wasn't altogether unpleasant. Definitely different and something I feel many readers that follow here probably haven't looked into before. Apeshit was kind of a mix of a terrible D-grade 80's horror movie. So absurd that it wasn't really scary, but lived up to it' namesake of bizarro fiction. There were definitely some WTF am I reading moments, and I was kept on my toes more due to the sheer nature of what insane debased thing the writer was going to come up with next than the actual scariness. Overall though it wasn't bad, and if you want to something a little (read ALOT) different I'd give it a go. 

I also went back and re-read the first 2 volumes of Paper Girls, and am awaiting the 3rd to come in at the library. My love for Brian K. Vaughan only grows with each new graphic novel I read of his. Ofcourse, I felt in the mood for a short classic at some point, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley it was. I imagine it's along the same lines as 1984 by George Orwell (which I have still yet to read) and deals with a dystopian society in which the civilians are regulated meticulously in order to function at their most optimal. 

Jodi Picoult has always been a favorite of mine, and I was not disappointed reading Plain Truth, about an Amish family who are caught in a police investigation regarding the death of a newborn infant. The story seemed well researched and the insights into Amish life were intriguing, not to metnion the suspense in finding out what really happened.

Other honorable mentions, THRONE OF GLASS series, OMG. Ok I'm pretty late to the party on this one, I read the first book a few years back and didn't continue on (There's something wrong with me, I know) but wow, the emotional rollercoaster just in the first 2 books... and I just no there is more to come, my heart can't take it.!

Up Next In November

  What to Say Next Incarnate (Newsoul, #1) Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3)


Other Updates 

I'm still loving Instagram, AGAIN I was a bit late to the party on this one, and only really started up this year with my Instagram account. It's a bit of a mishmash of things, boos obviously, but also food, nature and lots of animals.

Wedding planning has actually started...relative style and colors have been settled, budget set (if we can stay within it). For the mot part I think we've decided on a little place that was a vinyard but is now an arts centre. They have a cute little church onsite for the ceremony and we're going to rent this old rustic barrel store for the reception. The only fallback is that it's going to be alot of DIY, which is great because I can get my creative juices flowing and pinterest is a great help, but time constraints is going to be my biggest problem.

If you have any book reccomendations or even better, wedding advice. I would love to hear it. Until next time :)



Sunday 5 November 2017

Back from Hiatus



Ugh, I've missed blogging so much! I was sitting here with my cup of tea on a Saturday night and for the first time in a long time felt like I had nothing to do (didn't feel like reading, the house was clean, caught up on washing etc) and all I could think was how much I missed my book blog... So I'm back :)

Book blogging use to take up a lot of my time and when work and the rest of life got to be too much it was the first thing to go. There was also a certain pressure I felt to read and review ALL the books I was reading. Not to mention reviewing the latest releases (when to be honest I'm happy just catching up on all the old releases still on my TBR). Despite all this though, after more than 6 months I really feel the need to come back and give it another go. Hopefully if I put less pressure on myself and do it just for the fun of it, I'll be able to stick with it longer term. 

*Sigh* It feels good to be back. 

Tuesday 2 May 2017

March/April Wrap-up

I haven't done much reading in the last couple months, so I thought I'd combine March and April Wrap-ups (also because of my complete lack of pre-planning posts). Easter was great because I actually got some reading done and it was such a perfect weekend to be inside and cozy, since we had a cyclone brewing. Lots of chocolate and cups of tea were had, and then it was back to working 50 hour weeks in our currently much understaffed practice, oh the vet tech life. 


Finished 

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Between, #1) The Beast Is an Animal Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands, #1)

I Was Here Young Widows Club No One's Angel (Chadwell Hearts, #1)

Owning the Beast Saga, Vol. 7
  
   

I really struggled with 'Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea'. It took me a long time to get through and I persevered, but it just wasn't for me. The story line wasn't very streamline and was just confusing in some parts. However there were some nice descriptions and details that highlighted the gothic-horror element of this book. I went into 'The Beast is an Animal' thinking it was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, only to find it definitely wasn't, but was pleasantly surprised by a fairytale unknown to me. The story held a wistful creepiness, and the prose was both haunting and enchanting. 

'Saga Volume 7' was amazing as always, but every time a character dies whether they have only been newly introduced or around forever it gets me in the feels so unexpectedly. I read 'Owning the Beast' because a) it is a loose retelling of beauty and the beast and I LOVE beauty and the beast and b) I was just in the mood for some erotica *cough* romance.


Up Next In May

Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) In Real Life By Your Side

Other Favorites


So I have been in the mood to play an old school computer game that I've had since I was about 13 years, called Heroes of Might and Magic. All the nostalgia came back and even though in today's day and age the graphics are unbelievably bad and the game is 2D I still enjoyed it just as much as I use to. 

I've also been trying to do some wedding planning this month, but I really haven't gotten far. I've essentially set up a page in my bullet journal for it and that's my extent. I keep getting lots of questions from friends and family about when we're getting married etc, but me and my significant other..lets call him 'BookMan' are super laid back and relaxed and aren't in any hurry. Plus the money that a wedding costs we would rather spend on travel and other things. 


Monday 17 April 2017

Movie Review: Beauty and The Beast


So I meant to write this review much sooner than I have, mainly because I had so many feelings and emotions after the movie. But sometimes giving myself time to ruminate over those reactions can help me decide if they were just knee jerk reactions or if they are constructive to my review. To start off full disclosure, Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney Princess movie of all time so I feel slightly more critical.

Looks wise I think Emma Watson fits the bill perfectly, I just can’t say I was overly impressed with Emma Watsons acting. It just felt a bit off and quite stiff. In part this could be to do with the fact that a lot of the time she would be acting opposite a CGI character and that would be unimaginable awkward in more serious, emotional scenes.
 I think it was made even more evident in the end scenes where the beast is dying, I just couldn’t feel it. I didn’t expect to be moved to tears or anything but her acting felt insincere particularly in this scene and the animated movie just seemed to capture the pain and heartbreak much better.

The new songs and fill in of the back story we missed in the Disney original was great. I loved the little bits about the beasts past and explanation of how the village had completely forgotten about the castle and its inhabitants. I particularly adored the Beasts song ‘Evermore’ it had a Phantom of the Opera-esque feel to it, ‘Days in the Sun’ and ‘How Does a Moment Last Forever’ were a delight as well. Of course all the old favourites were present and delivered by some great talent like Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson and Audra McDonald (I didn’t even know she could sing!)

The Beast himself, while obviously being CGI had some great voice acting done by Dan Stevens and as I mentioned his solo song was impressive. Gaston and LeFou were very good and the actors well chosen for their respective roles Gaston was the epitome of arrogant and manly just as I remember him from the original movie. The little nod at the end toward LeFou and his romantic preferences was endearing and surprisingly brave in a Disney movie.  

Overall, I was impressed with the movie but I wasn’t in love with it. The original will always hold a place in my heart that will be hard to replace, and there’s just something about animated Belle and Beasts romance that is so much more believable to me. Not to mention I’ve loved animated Beast since before I can remember, and I still prefer him to the CGI beast (although Dan Stevens voice is delicious and does give animated Beast a run for his money).

Lastly, it may have something to do with the fact that I prefer my men ruff and rugged with beards, but I’ve always liked the beast more before he got transformed into his princely self (too clean shaven and boyish for me) and this especially holds true in the animated version. Is that weird? Am I the only one who finds him less attractive as a Prince? I need to know I’m not alone in this haha.



What Did you guys think of the new Beauty and the Beast remake?


Image Credits: 
Belle gif- Giphy.com
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