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Monday, December 14, 2015

BookBlogWriMo 2015 - Day 30: A Wrap Up of BookBlogWriMo 2015


Today's Topic: A Wrap Up of BookBlogWriMo 2015

 This year's BookBlogWriMo has been really fun!  It did interfere slightly with NaNoWriMo (but that's my won fault for being too ambitious).

 I wouldn't say that it improved my writing skills, more that it just gave me more writing time.  Which is always a good thing!

 I've also gotten several ideas for discussion posts in the future (I know, I haven't done one of those for a looooong time!).  So I think the coming year should be really good in terms of original content!

 Other than that, I don't really have anything more to say!  I mean, it was super fun and I'll definitely be participating next year!  So without further ado, here are all of the topics and their links!
1: History of Your /blog/What Has Changed Since BookBlogWriMo 2014
2: The Blogger Behind the Blog
3: What Do You Read?
4: Why Do You Read?
5: #ThrowbackThursday - Favorite Childhood Books
6: Favorite Book Quotes
7: Favorite/Least Favorite Things To Read About
8: #SuperSunday - What Makes A Book Blog Work?
9: #MotivationMonday - How do you make sure you post to your blog?
10: #TenOnTheTenth - Top Ten Favorite Books
11: The Mind Of A Book Blogger
12: #ThrowbackThursday - Favorite Book Review(s) That You've Written
13: #FiestyFriday - How do you approach writing negative reviews?
14: What role do books play in your life?
15: Author Buddies
16: Blog Tours or Independent Reviewing?
17: Your Review Process and System
18: Book Wishlist
19: #ThirstyThursday - Book Character Crushes
20: Book Pet Peeves
21: #SocialSunday - Social Media Links
22: TBR List
23: e-Reader or Paper?
24: #TopTenTuesday - Top Ten Blog Posts
25: #WisdomWednesday - Any advice for new bloggers?
26: Book Footprints - What was the last book you read that left it's mark?
27: #FlashbackFRiday - What was reading like for you as a kid?  How has that changed?
28: #ShowMeYourShelves
29: The Future Of Your Blog
And with that, BookBlogWriMo 2015 is officially ended!  I already can't wait for next year! :)
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Sunday, December 13, 2015

R&R Review Sunday: Alicia's Sin by Nick Iuppa and John P. Mendoza


Carlos Mann Trilogy #2

Goodreads Blurb:
"REVENGE, MURDER, ADULTERY, OBSESSION, GHOSTS, GYPSIES, TIGERS, WITCHES, FREUD, MYSTERY, DRUG LORDS, CHINATOWN, MEXICO, VIENNA... AND THE SPANISH INQUISITION!

To avenge her parents’ death, sadistic sex trafficker Tiger Joy sends deadly assassins after Carlos and his beautiful ghost wife Alicia. The pair escapes to Cancun where they battle witches and drug lords to help their friend Señor Popcorn win the love of his life. But the Afterlife Judges aren’t happy with Alicia’s temper, and they send her off to anger management therapy with the ghost of Sigmund Freud. In old Vienna, the spirit of a seductive crown prince tempts Alicia, and then she’s captured by gypsies who put her on display in the Ghost Chamber of their traveling carnival. Alicia commits an unforgivable sin, and it finally gives Tiger Joy the perfect chance for revenge."

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BookBlogWriMo 2015 - Day 29: The Future Of Your Blog


Today's Topic: The Future Of Your Blog

 As I've mentioned in other posts, I really hope to have a new blog design sometime next year (I'm not entirely sure it's going to happen in January anymore :( ) as well as having all of my R&R's done by the New Year.

 I'm also still hopeful I'll be able to finish my Goodreads challenge.  Currently I've read 90 books out of 150 although that's the reviews that I've posted - I've actually read about 120.  I know I can do it!!  I'll be hardcore reading and reviewing over winter break, that's for sure!

 As for the long term future, well we'll just have to see!  I hope to continue blogging for many years to come.  I really do enjoy it and the community is so wonderful!  We'll have to see how busy my life gets in coming years but it is my sincere hope that I'll continue with this blog.

 That's pretty much all there is to say!  Come what may and all that jazz :)

 How long do you think you'll be blogging?  How are you doing on your yearly challenges?
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Saturday, December 12, 2015

BookBlogWriMo 2015 - Day 28: #ShowMeYourShelves


Today's Topic: #ShowMeYourShelves

 This prompt is relatively simply!  I'll show you my lovely shelves of books!  These are just my physical books - I have a whole host of kindle books but that would be quite the long post if I put those in too!  And of course the books I have on my Kindle app (different Amazon account) and iBooks!  So I'll just do physical books :)

Here's an overview of my first book shelf.  There's actually another half to this bookshelf (this is the right half) but I haven't filled it with books yet!  I keep all the books that I've gotten recently (as in within the past 2 years) so these are mostly 'blogging' books.


This is the top left portion.  I have the following books:



This is the top right portion.  I have the following books here:

This is the last part of the entire bookshelf - the bottom portion!  All I have down here are the books that my dad lent to me to read.  I'm either using them for school research or English projects.  They are:



Now for the other bookshelf!  Here's an overview:


This is the shelf that I keep all of my other books (mostly books from my middle school years).  I also have my TBR jar, puzzle that I have yet to finish, and Rubix cube on.


Here's the top shelf!  Like I said, I have my Rubix cube and puzzle on this shelf (as well as a baseball that I caught at a baseball game a while back and my owl book-stop).  Here are the books from left to right:

This is the middle shelf!  Here are the books from left to right:

Down on the last shelf is just Little Women and a bunch of crafting and Dr. Suess books so I won't list those.


These are the books that are currently on my night stand either from the library or books that I'm still reading (yeah... Blood of Olympus...)



And that's it!  How are your shelves organized?
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Friday, December 11, 2015

BookBlogWriMo 2015 - Day 27: #FlashbackFriday - What Was Reading Like For You As A Kid? How Has That Changed?


Today's Topic: What Was Reading Like For You As A Kid?  How Has That Changed?

 Hmmmm... You know, I think there's actually a bit of a difference between my childhood reading and my reading now.

 First off, when I was little, I'd just reread the same books over and over and over and over and over again, only adding a new book when my parents would buy me one for my birthday or Christmas.  Now, I use the library so much and I only reread a book if I really liked it and bought a copy of it.  I didn't really get books from the library when I was a kid and now it's basically my sole source of books (except for R&R's)!

Secondly, obviously, I'm reading different kinds of books.  When I was little, I was obsessed with books about everything animals.  Now, while I do enjoy reading books about animals, I also love fantasy, realistic fiction, YA, Adult, NA, and the whole spectrum of books that are available.  History didn't interest me as a little kid but it does now and I really enjoy reading historical fiction and just history books in general.


One thing that hasn't changed since my childhood is how many books I read.  When I was a child, I did have a little more time for reading (because, you know, what else do you do as a kid?) but I read roughly 100 books in 9 or 10 months like I do now.  Even though the books got longer, I somehow can keep up!  I was always a bookworm and in recent years, I've just changed the variety of books I read and their subsequent genres!


How has your reading changed since you were a child?
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Thursday, December 10, 2015

R&R Review Thursday: The Gift of the Quoxxel by Richard Titus


Stand-alone to date

Goodreads Blurb:
"King Norr was not content. He longed to know the world beyond his tiny, island kingdom of Nibb. Nibbians, however, were not a seafaring people. Why travel elsewhere, they said. What could be as perfect as Nibb?

Even so, Norr wistfully watched foreign ships pass. Inevitably, they approached, hesitated, then sailed away. Why was that? 

And that wasn't the only mystery.

There appeared to be a monster lurking in the bay.

Not only that but -- 

-- a prankster had set the palace afloat.

-- a little girl arrived who sang, but would not speak.

-- and possibly woolly drumbkins had devoured Doctor Hinkus.

Faced with these challenges, Norr had little hope to make it through the day without an abundance of "haddocks." 

Additional features of this book include --
-- illustrations and interactive glossary "
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BookBlogWriMo 2015 - Day 26: Book Footprints - What Was the Last Book You Read That Left It's Mark?


Today's Topic: Book Footprints - What Was the last Book You Read That Left It's Mark?

 There's one book that comes to mind when I read this prompt.  It truly left it's mark on me and made me think about our own mortality and how the human mind deals with loss.  That book is:

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.


This book wasn't an easy one to read and there were definitely tears shed.  However, it has such a profound meaning that kept me thinking days after I finished it.  It talks about how everything, including the concepts of good and evil, is entirely subjective based on perspective, experience, and our own psyche.  This boy Conor's mother is about to die from cancer.  All he wants to be is visible to people.  All he wants is the pain to go away.  Not his mother's pain, but his own and he's ashamed for it.  There is a tree in his backyard that turns into a monster and tells him stories that, looking shallowly don't relate at all, but looking deeply, matter the most.  It's the kind of book that makes you think about your own existence as well as your mind and everyone else's mind's around you.

I truly loved this book and am thinking of rereading it soon.


Are there any books that have left their mark on you?
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