February 2015 Wrap-Up

Image From This Month

 I finally posted the highly-requested, highly-anticipated video!  I worked really hard on it and I believe it's the best one I have ever made. 

What did I read this month?

What Fun/Noteworthy Things Happened?

1. Visited My Homeland | Nope, not China. Over February Break, I visited Southern California and may I say... 70 degrees now feels like a thousand. I had so much fun visiting my dad. We played tennis, swam, and I resumed my reckless golf cart driving - per usual. While I was there, I also took a TON of pictures. There are so many Frames of Existence that need to be written based off of all the fantastical pictures of places where there isn't snow on the ground.   

2. Started Writing Again | If you didn't know, I won NaNoWriMo last November, but I've pretty much abandoned *coughs* I mean, put on pause the novel I had been writing. February wasn't so much novel writing as it was poetry drafting. I've rediscovered my love for poetry and have written quite a few poems about love and life in general. Hopefully, I'll have some to share with you on Loving the Language of Literacy in the upcoming months.

3. Wrapped-Up Content Editing Research Project | I mentioned this project in my January 2015 Wrap-Up and I while it was so much fun, I am extremely relieved that it is finished. I learned a lot about a college I want to look into when it comes time to apply, what I can do now at my current age, and (obviously) the ins and outs of being a content editor. I'm hoping to do a 2-3 video/blog post mini-series on it, mostly so I can embarrass myself on the internet with a one minute sketch-type video I made.

4. Got Into a Massive Reading/Blogging/BookTubing Slump | I wrote this lovely post My Conclusion About Slumps around the middle of February and while I am not 100% over it, I am well on the mend. The urge to read/blog/make videos wasn't as strong as it had been previously, but prepare to be blasted full-force with more original content on both my blog and YouTube channel.

5. Got a Life! | I mentioned this in my February 2015 Reading Wrap-Up, but one of the biggest things that happened this month was the fact that I got a boyfriend. I know how surprised you are that introverted Sofia who spends the majority of her time on the internet actually got a boyfriend, trust me, most of my friends/family were too. I had such a great February because of him as well as the way life has been going for me and how happy I am since the move.

What music was I obsessed with?

What was my favorite book?

I have raved on twitter about ALL OF THE GOOD THINGS pertaining to All the Bright Places. It was a 5/5 star read that blew all the other books I read this month out of the water. I have an 18 minute long BookTalk where I go on (and on and on) about my thoughts towards individual plot points/aspects of the novel if you have read the book and want to know my thoughts. 

 

What was my favorite quote?

Oh look, a quote from the ever-so-lyrical, gorgeously written All the Bright Places. What a surprise! If I had enough room, I would just quote the whole darn book, but since I can't.... here's a photo I took while I was in California with just one of my many favorites. 

Are we all BEGGING spring to arrive?

It's not that this is the best quote of all time, but the fact that it didn't get above freezing the ENTIRE month of February in Upstate New York and I'm yearning for spring to arrive.... even though there is still around a month and a half more of winter so say the locals. 

January 2015 Wrap-Up

Image From This Month aka. I have a LOT of reading to do:

Boxing Day Book Outlet Haul!

What did I read in January?

I read more books this month than January AND February of 2014 combined! 16 novels, 1 novella, and 2 graphic novels were devoured this month and if you would like to know more about each one, check out my Wrap-Up video! 

What Fun/Noteworthy Things Happened?

1. Writing Class | One of the biggest and probably best (in terms of an ongoing thing) events from this month and the next two will probably be writing class. At my local YMCA I am part of the Young Author's Academy. I've even been doing video recaps about what I've learned and written for that week. The very first of 9 episodes is Find a Place of My Own | A Progression in Playwriting. I have been having an astounding time making new friends and discovering the world of playwriting and it's so comforting to come to a place every week where people IRL are actually into the same things I am.

2. First Physical Publisher ARC | I expressed my overwhelming joy and appreciation earlier this month when I received my first publisher ARCs which were Mark of the Thief (Jennifer A. Nielsen) and All Fall Down (Ally Carter). I felt so giddy seeing the standard media mail package from Scholastic and am extremely appreciative.

3. New Lights | I finally got new, more intense lights in my room, but I still need to work A LOT on the perfect combination of intensity because they're adjustable. I have yellow undertones (or as I like to claim orange) in my skin that make me resemble a carrot with the wrong  lighting. Hopefully, I'll have this issue fixed by next month but I am absolutely in love with the intensity of them.

4. Started Exercising Again | While I have not succeeded with the rigorous workout regimen I claimed to in the beginning of the year, I did get a solid start with going to the gym again. February is an important training month because track & field starts in March. Call me ridiculous, but I'm planning on participating in the (I believe) 1500/800 meter even though I have never sprinted before. I'll have to get back to you on that how well this works out.

5. Content Editing Research Project | My entire grade is in the intense throes of a research project on future careers. We choose a career, then figure out what extracurriculars/goals for high school, the most ideal college, and then what the actual career entails. My school does this to help us figure out if we actually want to do it depending on the work it entails.

What music was I obsessed with this?

Jet Pack Blues - Fall Out Boy ~ American Beauty/American Psycho | I only recently discovered what "type" of song I like in terms of lyrically and instrumentally, and THIS is the kind of song I like. I was obsessed with Fall Out Boy's new album this entire month which was unusual considering the fact that I only liked one of their songs before. Sometimes they're a bit too rock/shouting, but this new album was a perfect blend that successfully got me pumped before filming most of the time.

5:15 - Bridgit Mendler ~ Hello My Name Is... | This is the "type" of song I was talking about and has a really nice rhythm that I can easily listen to on repeat. This was a total rediscovery because I'd listened to Bridgit when this album first came out YEARS ago and wasn't that into it, but I gave all of her songs a good listen-through and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Into the Woods | I listened to this album constantly on repeat since it came out. I watched Into the Woods opening day and actually didn't enjoy it for what it was fully. Then I listened to the soundtrack and gradually fell in love with the story. Some of my favorites are (of course) the Prologue, Cinderella at the Grave, Hello, Little Girl, Giants in the Sky, On the Steps of the Palace, and Last Midnight.

What was were my favorites books?

While I did have 19 books to choose from, I was unsure of what I could consider my "favorites" because I only had 2 ACTUAL 5 stars and three 4.5 star books. So I threw together a little pyramid. There was no competition with Ready Player One, and The Start of Me and You was definitely second best. I have no idea how to rank these books after that because of how different they are and the subject matter each book deals with. There was a rougher contemporary dealing with slut shaming, a Middle Grade adventure, and a cutesy contemp.

What was my favorite bookish quote?

“The events of your life are all crammed together one minute right after the other without any time lapses or blank pages or chapter breaks because no matter what happens life just keeps going and moving forward and words keep flowing and truths keep spewing whether you like it or not and life never lets you pause and just catch your breath.” --- Hopeless: Colleen Hoover

What were my most popular posts/videos?

How are you celebrating the month of love?
I am single (is this really a surprise?) and will be staring people down from the corner this entire month. Surprisingly, my TBR has a bunch of New Adult and Cutesy Contemporaries. On the actual Valentines DAY, I will probably be curled up with a Morgan Matson novel. Fun Times :)

December 2014 Wrap-Up

December was SUCH a month and probably the best one of this entire year, and I am now here to wrap it up for you, which I haven't done since I honestly don't know when. This was such a great month in terms of BookTubing AND Blogging in terms of quality, quantity, and the pride I had in the content I produced this month, plus I haven't posted/uploaded this much, or had as good of a feeling about my blog/YouTube channel since JULY (and I didn't even have my BookTube channel then). I published 15 posts, read 14 books, uploaded 13 videos and a heck of a lot things happened.... which I shall proceed to tell you about. Disclaimer: The structure of this wrap-up is based off of Jamie @ Perpetual Page Turner's Monthly Rewinds.

Books Read In December:

I read 14 books this month, and I go over each and every one in my latest video, so creatively named "December 2014 Reading Wrap-UP"

5 Things That Happened This Month:

1. Started a new school | I've mentioned this a lot in past blog posts/videos, but I moved to Upstate New York in November, and the very first day of school was December 1st. I haven't made many friends yet (credited to being too introvertial), but everything about my school is wonderful. I'm taking French, suffering through an official gym class, navigating the treacherous waters of the cafeteria, singing (horribly) in chorus, and creating beautiful art (check out the first post in a new bog series - Frames of Existence). There is SOOO much less homework, I have a lot of spectacular teachers (the BEST English teacher of all time), and have only been late to class a few times (there is NOT enough time in between periods).

2. Saw the Imitation Game | This was such a good movie.... it's number two on my list. This was two hours of absolutely ASTONISHING story. It follows Alan Turing (mathematical genius, homosexual, and father of one of the earliest computers) and his team who are trying to solve Enigma, the code machine the Germans are using. This was incredibly impactful and the character development was superb. Benedict Cumberbatch was the BEST Alan Turing there COULD have been. He embodied the character so well, and his body language was on point.

3. Went to New York City Over Christmas | I mentioned countless times that I was in New York City on Twitter over Christmas because (as mentioned in a video) my family celebrated Chanukah. We went down to NYC for four days and had an absolute blast. We saw Into the Woods on the opening day, took a walking tour of the Lower West Side, had lunch with friends in Brooklyn, and, of course, the crowning jewel was visiting Strand Books. (I have a whole haul/vlog going up on my BookTube Channel soon)

4. Celebrated ALL of the holidays | Besides my One Year Blogoversary, I celebrated my birthday, Chanukah, and Christmas. This was my first time celebrating Chanukah and it was so much fun on all 8 of the nights to unwrap presents and I have officially concluded that the gift-giving method is a lot better than Christmas' because it teaches you patience. My birthday was awesome, we went out to eat at the Cheesecake factory, saw Exodus: Gods and Kings (aka one of the longest movies EVER), and I got my Macbook Air which I'm composing this blog post on. 

5. Nashville Mid-Season Finale | If you've been here a while, you *might* know that Nashville is my favorite TV show of all time and this finale was EXPLOSIVE. So much went down in a span of 45 minutes and I literally have the return (February 4) marked down on my calendar. The music is just as enjoyable as ever this season and I can't wait for some of the show exclusive songs to be released as singles (Red Flag, Most Beautiful Girl in the World, Avery/Sadie Duet).

Favorite Song of the Month

Hands Down! Little Toy Guns by Carrie Underwood was my most-played song of December. I own every album Carrie has ever put out, so I just purchased her two new singles - Something in the Water and Little Toy Guns. There's some IT-factor that let's you listen to a song for hours on repeat and Little Toy Guns has it. I love the lyrics, the melody, the story behind it, and it ALMOST makes up for the fact that I didn't get a new Carrie Underwood album this year. ALMOST.

Favorite Books of December:

This was such a hard decision to make because I read FIVE 5-Star books (some months I have none) and each one was deserving of the "favorite" of the month because each was so different. One is a neo-classic I was forced to read for school, another is a high fantasy thriller, the other part of a Middle Grade series, another is a hilarious memoir, and the crowning pinnacle was a trilogy finale.

Question of the Month: 

What Are Your 2015 New Years Resolutions?

I answer this question in great detail in the two videos below.

I hope your December was great and that the new year brings lots of happiness.... or books, because they're pretty much synonymous.

April 2014 Monthly Wrap-Up

Best of the Bunch is a book blog hop hosted by Always Lost in Stories, where we can look back over the books we have read over this past month and give a Best of the Bunch award to our favorite book of that month.

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookback:

-Ugh! This entire freaking month has been filled to the brim with projects, essays, presentations, and more. Until around the middle of the month, I will still have all of this going on. The teachers are intent on loading assignment upon assignment to show at Open House. 

-LGBT+ Month hosted by Laura @ Laura Plus Books & Cayce @ Fighting Dreamer is over and it was a TON of fun. I had hoped to be a lot more active in this, but I still read 2 LGBT books, and reviewed one. I also spent a lot of time reading their wonderful posts, and getting some really good recommendations. 

-This moth, I participated in the posts for the Dear Nobody Street Team, I have shared the exclusive trailer, reviewed the book, created a playlist, and even a discussion post.

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookout:

-Media Mondays!!! This is a new feature I will be having every Monday (what a concept 😱). I'm not trying to copy any names, or meme ideas, and if there are any with the same name, I implore you to tell me because I don't want to be accused of plagiarism. Anyway, these are reviews that will cover television shows, movies, and music. I can't wait because I think it will be a lot of fun. *Quick Note: As of May, Media Mondays will take place on Wednesdays because all my Mondays are filled with blog tours* 

-The Clean Sweep ARC Challenge hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer & Angie @ Angela's Anxious Life. All information can be found in the sign up post, but the basic gist of the challenge is to read as many ARCs as you can in the month of May. That doesn't sound too difficult, right? In my case, I will be taking the entire month to try and improve my Netgalley Ratio, because it's....How do I put this nicely? Atrocious. 

-Bout of Books 10 is happening this month from May 12-18. If you didn't know, Bout of Books is a quarterly Readathon (people still haven't corrected me on this, so I'm crossing my fingers that it's quarterly) just for the sake of all is crazy book lovers to have a chane to participate in mini-challenges, camaraderie, and the twitter chat (which I am DETERMINED to participate in this time). 

-For once, I didn't overbook myself with Blog Tours, and only have four books to read this month for tours, which compared to the stress of some other months, feels amazing. I also have some really fun posts such as interviewing the authors of Branded, and a guest post was written for me by Deborah Ellis, someone I have admired since I was in third grade.

• 5/5: {Guest Post+Giveaway} Moon at Nine: Deborah Ellis
• 5/12: {Review+Giveaway} Assured Destruction: Michael F. Stewart
• 5/19: {Review+Giveaway} Only With You: Celia Gray
• 5/23: {Review+Giveaway} The Only Boy: Jordan Locke
• 5/26: {Interview+Review+Teaser+Giveaway} Branded: Abi Ketner

-From the 29th of May to the 16th of June, I will be on vacation, and I am not entirely sure if I will be having wifi, so I will have all my posts scheduled. This is just a quick warning, and I intend to be active on the blog still, although I probably won't respond to comments or anything like that. 

April Reads

1. Lean In: Women, Work, and Will to Lead: Sheryl Sandberg ~ 4 Ink Jars

2. The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy #1): Jennifer A. Nielsen ~ 5 Ink Jars

3. The Runaway King (The Ascendance Trilogy #2): Jennifer A. Nielsen ~ 5 Ink Jars

4. The Shadow Throne (The Ascendance Trilogy #3): Jennifer A. Nielsen ~ 4 Ink Jars

5. Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose: Gillian McCain & Legs McNeil ~ 2 Ink Jars

6. The Here and Now: Ann Brashares ~ 2 Ink Jars

7. Between Shades of Gray: Ruta Septys ~ 4 Ink Jars

8. These Gentle Wounds: Helene Dunbar ~ 4 Ink Jars

9. Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave: Shyima Hall ~ 2 Ink Jars

10. The Hiding Place: Corrie Ten Boom ~ 3 Ink Jars

11. Every Day: David Leviathan ~ 2 Ink Jars

12. Final Stand: Rose Garcia ~ 3 Ink Jars

13. How to Say Goodbye: Amber Lin ~ 4 Ink Jars

14. Keeping You a Secret: Julie Ann Peters ~ 3 Ink Jars 

April Best of the Bunch:

.....DRUMROLL!!!.....

Synopsis: A kingdom teetering on the brink of destruction. A king gone missing. Who will survive? Find out in the highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer A. Nielsen's blockbuster THE FALSE PRINCE!

Just weeks after Jaron has taken the throne, an assassination attempt forces him into a deadly situation. Rumors of a coming war are winding their way between the castle walls, and Jaron feels the pressure quietly mounting within Carthya. Soon, it becomes clear that deserting the kingdom may be his only hope of saving it. But the further Jaron is forced to run from his identity, the more he wonders if it is possible to go too far. Will he ever be able to return home again? Or will he have to sacrifice his own life in order to save his kingdom?The stunning second installment of The Ascendance Trilogy takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of treason and murder, thrills and peril, as they journey with the Runaway King!

I have so many reasons why The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen has been given the crown, but I think what you really need to do is read the review to realize just how astoundingly phenomenal the book and author is. Spoiler Free. Spoiler Alert. 

April Posts:

• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Excerpt} Plus One: Elizabeth Fama
• {Book Blast+Giveaway} The Only Boy: Jordan Locke
• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Final Stand (Transhuman Chronicles #2): Rose Garcia
• TrinDee Events & Jamie McGuire presents A Beautiful Wedding BookRave
• Every Day: David Leviathan
• Readathon Sign-Ups: Dewey's 24 Hour & Bout of Books 10
• Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose: Gillian McCain & Legs McNeil
• {Release Day Blitz+Giveaway} My Not So Super Sweet Life: Rachel Harris
• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Playlist+Review} These Gentle Wounds: Helene Dunbar
• Spring Break Destinations: Feature and Follow Friday (4)
• {Giveaway} The Glow: Helen Whapshott
• {Spoiler Free} The Runaway King: Jennifer A. Nielsen
• {Spoiler Alert} The Runaway King: Jennifer A. Nielsen
• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Excerpt} The Uni Files Series: Anna Bloom
• Making Up For Monday (3) + Music Monday (3)
• {Spoiler Alert} The False Prince: Jennifer A. Nielsen
• {Spoiler Free} The False Prince: Jennifer A. Nielsen
• {Book Trailer+Cover} Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose
• What I've learned...my FOUR Month Blogoversary!!!
• {ARC Review} The Geography of You and Me: Jennifer E. Smith
• Monthly Wrap Up + The Sunday Post + Stacking the Shelves
• The Fairytale Survey: Spontaneous Saturday (2)
• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Obsidian Eyes: A.W. Exley
• April Fools: Feature and Follow Friday (3)
• {Promo Post+Giveaway} Rush Too Far: Abbi Glines
• Skin and Bones, Smoke & Steelheart: Mini Reviews (1)
• I'm Getting Back in the Game: Readers Workouts (1)

Challenge Updates:

UPDATED GOAL eBooks: 24/50

Dystopia: 10/29

Library: 19/50

First Reads: 31/50

Chunksters: 3/10

Real Books: 24/50

Netgalley: 10/21

New Author: 31/50

Favorite Albums: 

My music taste has grown immensely in this past month. This is because I have discovered spotlight, so I can listen to a whole albums at once instead of singles from Pandora or iHeartRadio. I will be doing "Media Mondays" on a handful of these, and I can't wait to share my opinions on them with you. 

Night Visions: Imagine Dragons ~ I had always liked the singles 'Radioactive', 'Demons', 'It's Time', and 'Bleeding Out', but this month, I have lostened to the whole album from beginning to end multiple times. 

My Head is An Animal: Of Monsters and Men ~ I listened to covers of 'Little Talks' the ENTIRE summer of 2013, and I finally (probably out of boredom) listened to the whole album and am loving it. 

Bad Blood: Bastille ~ To be honest, I never liked their single 'Pompeii', but my friend from Syracuse visited and she loves the band a lot. I begrudgingly listened, and have found that I enjoy listening to them a lot. 

Cut to Impress: Maggie Rose ~ A long time ago, I had heard the song 'Lookin Back Now' which had just enough country mixed in with a touch of rock and sultriness. Yet, it was only in April that I pursued Maggie Rose, and created a Spotify playlist for her. Because when I create a Spotify playlist, I get serious.

Nashville On The Record ~ I am SO excited to tell you that this will be my very first Media Mondays post so I won't say too much right now. What I can say is that the cast is amazing singing live, despite recorded versions being played during the show. That Finale....check back on Wednesday for a full report.

Shakira: Shakira ~ My mother gave this album to me for Easter, and I was skeptical. Latin American music was certainly not on my radar and unlike anything I have ever heard before, but I do love the album. The songs 'Can't Remember to Forget You', 'Empire', 'That Way', and 'Loca Por Ti' are some of my new favorites that my mom practically knows the words to now.

Light Up the Night: Jess Moskaluke: I have been waiting, wondering, pondering, and even begging Jess Moskaluke via Twitter to come out with new original music because I think her voice is unlike any others and just has this 'it' factor. Anyway, the album did not live up to her Catch Me if You Can EP, but it is still wonderful.

WIth Love: Christina Grimmie ~ We all know by now that Christina Grimmie is in the Top 8 of The Voice, right? Well besides the covers that got her famous, last August, she came out with original music. While I'm not the biggest fans of her more rock songs, I am in love with the more acoustic ballands like 'I Bet You Don't Curse God', 'Think of You', and 'With Love'

The Covers Vol. 4 EP: Alexi Blue ~ I had hoped that by now, her full 10 song version of The Covers Volume 4 would be released, but alas, it was not meant to be. Nevertheless, the 5 songs on the album that she does have are spectacular, especially her cover of 'Best Days of My Life' by American Authors.

Monthly Wrap Up + The Sunday Post + Stacking the Shelves

Best of the Bunch is a monthly blog hop at the end of each month hosted by Always Lost in Stories, where we can share which books we have read or reviewed in that month, decide on our personal favourite and give that book our Best of the Bunch award.

To join in simply write your blog post telling us which books you have read or reviewed over the month, (and which book gets your Best of the Bunch award for that month), and then stop back here to add your link to the Mr. Linky. Visit the other blogs in the links to get some awesome new book recommendations.

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookout and Lookback

-I have reached ONE HUNDRED Bloglovin followers. I remember less than four months ago when I had just started Loving the Langauge of Literacy and look how far I have come since then. Thank you so much everyone that has followed me and I appreciate every single one of you Bloglovin, GFC, and  Feedly  followers.

-I have a TON of new ideas and discussion posts that are in the process of being drafted. You may have seen my first out of six Divergent Trilogy Series posts. The movie review was first, and my review of Allegiant is coming your way tomorrow. I also have a 4+ post series planned for the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg that I can't wait to share with you.

-I have discovered aCal, IFTTT, Evernote, Tweetdeck, and Posts. Yes, I am aware that these apps have been in existence for a long time but I recently downloaded them and am loving it. I swear, I downloaded 7 calendar apps until I found a one with multiple color coding and aCal was the one. IFTTT lets me back up posts and numerous recipes. Evernote lets me back up posts, organize my frazzled self, and records all of my Amazon purchases....which may not be a good thing. Tweetdeck let me follow the #Bloggiesta twitter chats. Posts lets me edit, schedule, past HTML and everything else that Blogger doesn't.

-I participated in Spring #Bloggiesta and got actual goals accomplished which felt awesome.

-I've gotten accepted for a lot of ARCs via Netgalley which could either be a good or bad thing, so expect to see a lot of ARC Reviews in the coming months because there are some phenomenal books.

-I'm part of the Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose Street Team. So for the next four weeks, there will be plenty of posts and tweets for this astounding novel.

-I'm going to the Los Angeles Festival of Books! :) There will be two recap posts for this.

-I am doing my best with the whole scheduling posts ahead of time thing, but all of the teachers are dumping project after project on their students because Open House is next month. That means I won't have nearly as much time to read and write posts, but I promise I will try my very hardest.

Books Read in March:

House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus #4): Rick Riordan

The Distance Between Us: Kasies West

Colonization: Aubrie Dionne

Six Months Later: Natalie D. Richards

Reconaissance: Aubrie Dionne

Alliance: Aubrie Dionne

Allegiant: Veronica Roth

Me Since You: Laura Wiess

Breaking Free: The True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery: Abby Sher

The Cellar: Natasha Preston

March Posts:

Music Mondays (2) + It's Monday! What Are You Reading (1) 

Monday Memes 

Popular Authors I've Never Read: Top Ten Tuesday (6)

All Time Favorite Middle Grade Books: Top Ten Tuesday (7)

Books On My Spring 2014 TBR List: Top 10 Tuesday (8)

WWW Wednesdays (2) 

Feature and Follow Friday (2) 

Stacking the Shelves (8)~ Powells Addition 

Best of the Bunch Montly Wrap-Up+Sunday Memes

{ARC Review} Moon at Nine: Deborah Ellis

House of Hades: Rick Riorda

{ARC Review} Me Since You: Laura Wiess 

The Cellar: Natasha Preston 

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Journey to Landaran: Judy Goodwin

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Alliance (Paradise Reclaimed #3) Aubrie Dionne 

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} The Making of Nebraska Brown: Louise Caoila 

{Blog Tour+Giveaway} The Prophecy: S.P. Cervantes 

March Challenges & Readathons Goals/Updates/Results

Spring 2014 Challenges 

Spring 2014 Bloggiesta

Ides of March Challenges

#COYER Mini-Challenges

The Book Vs. The Movie~ Divergent Trilogy Series Part 1 of6 

{Book Blast+Giveaway} Final Stand: Rose Garcia 

April 2014 Goals:

I usually don't like to put my goals for followers because you honestly can't choose who follows you, and there's no magic recipe for someone to follow you. The numbers I have here are merely projections on past experience and I am not trying to say I'm entitled to those followers I wish to have.

35 Posts

13 Reviews

4 Lean In Series Posts

4 Divergent Trilogy Series Posts

Parts 1 & 2 of the Los Angeles Festival of Books Recap

Post Everyday

150 Bloglovin Followers

25 GFC Followers

15 Linky Followers

10 RSS Followers

700 Twitter Followers

15 Books Read

5 Blog Tour Books Read

4 Netgalley Books Read

4 Review Request Books Read

Challenge Updates:

COYER: 3 Technically 7 including blog tour books

March Madness Reads: 13

Take Control of Your TBR Pile 12

Ebooks 18/25 

Dystopia 9 /20

Library 17/50

Mad Reviewer 27/104

Standalone  13/

Women 30/25 COMPLETED

First Reads 21/

Chunksters 3/10

Real Books 15/

Netgalley 6/21

New Author 21/50

February Best of the Bunch:

I know having three books completely defeats the purpose of a 'Best of the Bunch' but to be fair, I did read 14, so 3 isn't even a 4th of all the books I read. I recently (as in two days ago) reviewed Obsidian Eyes by A. W. Exley for a blog tour. House of Hades was a portal back to my childhood and a wonderful read. Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls who Escaped Modern Slavery was a life-changing read and my only regret is that I cannot review this book for another month.  

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on the blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

Lookback:

• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Obsidian Eyes: A.W. Exley
• April Fools: Feature and Follow Friday (3)
• {Promo Post+Giveaway} Rush Too Far: Abbi Glines
• Skin and Bones, Smoke & Steelheart: Mini Reviews (1) 
• I'm Getting Back in the Game: Readers Workouts (1) 
• 
  

Lookout:

4/7 {Divergent Trilogy Series 2/6} Allegiant: Veronica Roth
4/8 What I've Learned.......My 4 Month Blogoversary
4/8 Race Recap: Reader's Workouts (2)
4/9 Lean In: Sheryl Sandberg
4/10 {Promo Post + Trailer Reveal} Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose 
4/11 The False Prince: Jennifer A. Nilesen 
4/12 {Divergent Series 3/6} The Hunger Games VS. The Divergent Trilogy
4/13 The Sunday Post + Stacking the Shelves. 

"Stacking the Shelves" is a meme when you list the books you've added to your shelves, virtual, physical, or whatever shape or form you get them. I am now combining "Stacking the Shelves" with the "Sunday Post" because it is so much a personal preference about when and what you post "Stacking the Shelves" with. I am doing this meme once a week, so you will probably see nothing but library books because originally, I only did "Stacking the Shelves" as an every-time-I-go-to-the-library thing. As people may know, “Stacking the Shelves” posts are hosted by “Tynga's Reviews”  

{Disclaimer: I am in no means trying to brag about what I got, and merely shared this post for the benefit of my followers seeing what I so generously received, and as a favor to the lovely people that sent me things}

Two weeks ago, I did a SIXTEEN book Stacking the Shelves post. I am sad to admit, but happy to have four more additions to my hard copy collection. Meanwhile, my eBook additions are.....lengthy to say the least.

Netgalley & Blog Tour & Review Oppurtunity eBooks

Hard Copy Book Orders & eBook Giveaway Wins

I want to thank Scholastic, Flux, Entangled Publishing, James Lorimer & Company, Macmilan Children's Publishing Group, Sourcebooks Fire, Dundurn, Bold Strokes Books, Inc.