Currently: Life Update and More!

Hello! I know it's been a while since I officially sat down to blog. Sure, you've seen posts here and there, but nothing consistent enough to satisfy my love for books and blogging. Today at work it just hit me how much I've missed it these past few months. This post is to update you a bit on what's been going on in my life, what I've been reading, what I've been watching, what I've been listening to, and what will be coming in the near future.

From January to April I studied my ass off for the GRE (that's the exam you have to take when you're going to apply to graduate school) and I FINALLY TOOK IT AND OMG WHAT A RELIEF. I can't tell you how incredible it felt to have that weight lifted off my shoulders. Guess what I did right after that four hour exam! If you guessed go to a bookstore, you're 100% correct. I also had to submit my graduate school application for my number one school by May 15th. You can imagine the stress I was under. But all that is officially over and I can relax (and by relax I mean anxiously wait to see if I was accepted or not).

Now that all that is over "can we get back to reading? Please. Yo."

The last book I read before my exam was Starflight, which I finished on February 29th and I took my exam on April 14th. All of March and almost all of April without reading a single book...my heart was heavy. Some of the things I've read since then:

    

I've only really read one full book since February, but I've started ALL THE BOOKS. Somehow I've fallen into a state where I want to read all the books, but I can't seem to get through anything. Below are some of the books I'm hoping to finish soon and you may or may not see reviews for these on here soon!

CURRENTLY READING

   

Please send all the good reading vibes so I can get through some of these. They're great and I'm really enjoying them, but I can't seem to sit myself down and actually get through any of them.

Music wise, if the above gif is any indication, I've become obsessed with Hamilton. Everything in my life somehow relates to it. I can't stop looking up cute drawings of the squad (Mulligan, Laurens, Hamilton and Lafayette). The good thing is that all of my friends have also fallen into this hole called Hamilton so I have more than enough people to freak out with me. We've even converted my friends brother and my other friends boyfriend. They were reluctant at first, but really who doesn't love Hamilton?

I recently watched Pulp Fiction for the first time. I don't have a lot to say because I don't want to anger a lot of people. I liked it enough, I didn't love it. Moving on, I watched Civil War this month, DUH! I don't care what anyone else says, SPIDER-MAN STOLE THE SHOW. I was incredibly skeptical because hello...Spider-Man looks and sounds like a baby in that trailer. But all was fine because he was hilarious and I can't wait for 2017. 

I also want to give a quick shout out to another movie that I've already seen twice this month:

It's about a deaf author living on her own who gets attacked by this man in a mask. This movie is so intense and will keep you at the edge of your seat at all times. You will root for the main character until the very end. Whatever that end may be.

Okay, so that's it! Now that I'm back I need book recommendations. What's your favorite book that has been released in the last two months?

Bout of Books 14: Goals + Updates

I haven't been on Twitter lately with the craziness that is work and with my friends being home from college, but things our slowing down, so when I saw that Bout of Books was happening this week I JUMPED ON IT!

This is going to be my Everything Post. I'll be using it as a sign-up, daily update, goals post. So onto my goals for the week:

    

Shadow and Bone and To All The Boys I've Loved Before are rereads and the other ones are books I'm dying to read. If I add anything to my goals or change anything I'll make sure to update on here.

Now for the updates, I will be posting them the day after, this means that Monday's update will go up on Tuesday, etc.

Monday:

What I'm Reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Audiobook) and To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Books I Read Today: 0

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 0

Number of Pages Read: 53 pages of To All the Boys (pgs 142-195) and 170 pages of Shadow and Bone

Monday was a pretty tough day for me. I only worked half a day but I had to get some stuff done and I wasted a bunch of time and didn't even get any of it done. But the good thing is that I read a descent amount for having such a bad day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Tuesday:

What I'm Reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Audiobook) and To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han and Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Books I Read Today: 2

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 2

Number of Pages Read: 159 pages of To All the Boys, 61 pages of Shadow and Bone and 160 pages of Saga.

Tuesday was wayyy better. As soon as I got home from work I just read the entire night until midnight. It was great, I definitely need more nights like these. Both To All the Boys and Saga were 5 star books for me.

Wednesday:

What I'm Reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Audiobook) and The Rules by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié

Books I Read Today: 1

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 3

Number of Pages Read: 137 pages of Shadow and Bone (Finished) and 62 pages of The Rules

I had a better reading day Tuesday, but this was still decent. I adored Shadow and Bone just as much as the first time I read it, and I usually like the audiobook less than the physical book, but that wasn't the case this time. I'm excited to finally continue with the series.

Thursday:

What I'm Reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Audiobook) and The Rules by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié

Books I Read Today: 0

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 3

Number of Pages Read: NOTHING.....

Basically...I have nothing to say.

Good luck to everyone participating! I hope you all meet your goals and if you have a goal post or a daily update post link them in the comments!

Life Updates: Friends, College, Future

It's been a while since I've updated you guys on my life, so that's exactly what I plan on doing today. This summer and this new semester in college have brought on some changes. First of all, if you saw my May Month in Pictures post you'll have seen that three of my best friends graduated high school. So at the end of August/beginning of September I had to say goodbye to two of my best friends. It's a strange change because I'm so used to having them close by. One of them literally lived two minutes away, and now she's a four hour drive from me. My other best friend has been in my life for more than 10 years, and now she's in Boston while I'm still in Florida. I'm incredibly proud of them, but I do miss them.

The second big change in my life is something that hasn't happened yet, but this is my last semester in college. I graduate in December, and I have no idea what I'm going to do next. I mean, I have some ideas, I want to travel (especially to a french-speaking country), I want to go to graduate school, I want to work in my field, but nothing that's been cemented. If you have anxiety like me, you might be able to see why this is such a big deal. But I'm learning to take it day by day and see what the next day brings, which leads me to my next topic.

I AM SO BUSY THIS SEMESTER, and that's a great thing. I've gotten involved in so many different things that have brought me out of my little box. I'm proud of what I'm doing at the moment. I'm the historian of the French Circle on campus, the secretary of our chapter of the French Honor Society, I got accepted into the Psych Honor Society, and finally, the most exciting thing, I'm one of four french teachers at a school that includes children with learning disabilities. It's a volunteer position, but I'm really enjoying it, plus the kids are absolutely adorable.

All of this, plus work, is keeping me very busy, but I'm getting myself organized (I even bought a planner!) so be on the lookout for some cool things on the blog.

I would love to know a little more about what's going on in your lives. Tell me one thing (or a few) that you're proud of, or scared of, or that you see yourself doing in the future!

End of Summer Read-a-Thon: Updates!

So, yesterday was the first day of this read-a-thon and I feel like I rocked it! Hopefully you guys are doing as well. This is where I'll be updating everything daily.

Day #1

I had some pretty big distractions. Mainly, WORK. I went to work at 7:30 and got out at 4:00 and then had to run a few errands but when I finally got home I sat down to read The Vincent Boys. I started it at midnight but fell asleep 10 pages in. So I kept reading and finished it off. I fell asleep for a few hours in between, so I technically finished it today, but that's okay. I also listened to City of a Thousand Dolls on audiobook at work and got a little more than halfway through that. I'll include it in the page count once I finish it because I'm not exactly sure how much I've listened to so far.

Update #1

What I'm Reading: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Books I Read: The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 1

Number of Pages Read: 259

Audiobook: City of a Thousand Dolls- Listened to 4/7 CDs

Relevant Gif of the day:

Day 2:
Yesterday was not a good reading day. I had to go visit family and that was distraction enough plus I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the day before. I managed to start reading Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan and got to page 85. Let me tell you right now, this book will probably go in my favorites shelf. It has every element of my type of book, but I'll get more into that when I review it.

Update #2

What I'm Reading: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan (still reading this)

Books I've Read: The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 1

Total Number of Pages Read: 344

Relevant Gif of the day


What have you guys read so far? Any favorites? Share in the comments and keep reading!

Bout of Books Goals and Updates + Wrap Up!!!

This is my list of goals for the read-a-thon and also where I'll be posting my daily updates. My goal is to read at least a book a day. Here's what I plan to choose from:

Undeadly by Michele Vail
Hysteria by Megan Miranda
The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan
Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols
Click to Subscribe by L.M. Augustine
The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
Ditched by Robin Mellon
Unremembered by Jessica Brody
The Lives We Lost by Megan Crewe
Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

I think that list gives me a good mixture of genres with mystery, contemporary and paranormal. There are some review books in there, some library books and some books I've had on my shelves for too long. I can't wait to see how much I get through, because we all know I won't be able to get to all of them.

Link me your goals so I can see what you guys will be reading! I love seeing everyone else's goals.

Updates:

Monday
What I'm Reading: Ditched by Robin Mellom (29/273 pgs)

Books I Read Today: Undeadly by Michele Vail (done) and some of Ditched

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 1

Number of Pages Read: 301

I feel like I'm off to a good start. My goal to read a book a day is going better than expected.

Tuesday

What I'm Reading: Hysteria by Megan Miranda (43/323)

Books I Read Today: Ditched by Robin Mellom (done) and some of Hysteria

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 2

Number of Pages Read: 287 (today)/ 588 (total)

After I finished Ditched I was so hyper and couldn't decided which of my books I wanted to read next so I skimmed the first pages of a few books. But it's okay. I found my next read now.

Wednesday

What I'm Reading: Still reading Hysteria (206/323) and started Click to Subscribe (not sure how much I've read since this book is an ebook but online it says it has 252 pages)

Books I Read Today: None :(

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 2

Number of Pages Read: 213 (today), total (801)

So I didn't finish a book today because Hysteria. I MEAN WHAT IS GOING ON?! That book confused me so much. It's supposed to be a mystery but usually I'm really good at having somewhat of a clue about the mystery early on. Well, not in this one. I'm more than halfway through and I have no idea. I just had to take a break. But I'm going to be finishing both books so I should be back on track for tomorrow.

Thursday

What I'm Reading: Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Books I Read Today: 2 (finished Hysteria and Click to Subscribe)

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 4

Number of Pages Read: 336 (today)/ 1137 (total)

I finished Hysteria! (shake it off Cumberbatch style) WOOHOO! Finished off two books and started Unremembered. I'm feeling pretty great about the rest of the read-a-thon. Hopefully I can finish 3 more books by the end but it's getting harder to decide what I want to read out of the ones left. I WANT TO READ THEM ALL.

Friday

What I'm Reading: Unremembered

Books I Read Today: O

Total Number of Books I've Finished: 4

Number of Pages Read: 163 (today)/ 1,300 (total)

Unremembered is pretty good so far, but...I watched Grey's Anatomy ALL DAY. I tried to get some reading in between episodes but Netflix just starts the next episode right away. So I blame Netflix for my lack of reading. I'll stay far away from Grey's Anatomy until the read-a-thon is over and finish Unremembered and another book by the next update.  That was just a moment of weakness *sigh*.

Wrap Up:
As you guys can tell by my lack of updates on Saturday and Sunday...I didn't really read much this weekend. I watched Star Trek: Into Darkness (AND IT WAS GREAT) and I went to the beach with my family. But I did manage to finish reading Unremembered by Jessica Brody and I started The Gathering and Nantucket Blue, both seem like they're going to be great reads! So here's what I managed to read this read-a-thon:

 

Total books read: 5
Total pages read: 1,451
Final reaction: I had so much fun participating in Bout of Books, meeting new people and it gave me a chance to read some of the books I had been wanting to get to. So thank you so much to Amanda and Kelly for organizing this read-a-thon!

Comment with your update and goal links! And if you guys are updating on twitter, leave me your handles so I can find you :)