All posts by Emily

stacking the shelves #2

Stacking the Shelves in a book meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. It’s all about sharing the books you’ve read/gotten this week, virtual or physical. 

This week I bought The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, and “Best Kept Secret,” the third in the Family Tree series by Ann M. Martin. I borrowed Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell from my local library.

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I finished Fangirl already (go check out the review!), and I’m currently reading “I am the Messenger.” I’m really excited about reading this one, because I’ve wanted to for a long time! I got it for 20% off at Target yesterday (the total was around nine bucks), and then picked out The Red Umbrella among several others that looked good at Barnes & Noble.

I’ve actually had Best Kept Secret for a while now; it came in the mail along with Dash & Lily, but I decided to read Fangirl first so it was put on hold for a bit. That being said, I loved it!! I can’t wait until the fourth (and final) book in the series comes out. It’s definitely one of my favorites! =)

Well, that’s my Stacking the Shelves for today! Have a great week, everyone!

P.S. I meant to post this yesterday, but I posted Fangirl and the long post about the Liebster award (Eeekk! I’m still so happy!!) and didn’t want to bombard everyone with three new posts =) SO the next Stacking the Shelves will be on a Saturday, I promise. 😉

Emily

i was nominated for the liebster award!

A great (very new) blogger friend, Samantha over at Young Writers Cafe nominated me for the Liebster Award! I was so surprised she did so (since we both very recently “discovered” each other’s blogs 😀 (I am currently sort-of obsessed with YWC)) but also soooo happy!! Thank youuu, Samantha!!! My first blog award for For the Bookish! So first, I tell you all 11 facts about me and then answer her 11 questions for me, then nominate 3-5 blogs I follow for this “award.” 😉 Sounds fun, right? Let’s begin…

11 Fun (or not-so-fun!) Facts about me…

1) I love classy things. Classic books, light pink (a very classy shade, I think), classy stationary, classy bookmarks, teacups, etc. After all, there are two things every girl should be – classy and fabulous.

2) I like to clean my room. It never really gets messier than a few dirty clothes on the floor and strewn homework papers. (DON’T go looking in my drawers or chests, though, or you’ll discover my secret hiding places…) But I can’t stand clutter!

3) I sniff books. You may already know this if you read some of my TTT’s, but I do. I flip the pages and inhale that amazing smell…

4) I have freckles! I used to hate them. I used to have more, too, they’ve faded away and I sort of miss them. They come out more in the summer, and I miss em’!

5) I loooveeee cats! I really do. I have an orange cat, Mittens, and one of my best friends keeps calling me a Crazy Cat Lady because I have a whole album of pictures for him on my phone. 😛

6) My school awards ceremony was Friday, and guess what award I got?! “Future Author”! Eeeekkk! 😀

7) I love history, and I especially love WWII. That’s probably one of my favorite time periods.

8) I have 3 stuffed animals I sleep with always – Lamby, Jack, and Purple Bunny. 😉

9) “The Parent Trap” (the one with Lindsay Lohan) and “Ever After” are two of my all-time favorite movies. I can say the lines right along with the actors. I looovee those movies!

10) I practice my signature sometimes. You know, for when I’m an adult and have to sign my name on receipts and checks and stuff. And  you know… maybe for when I’m famous. Maybe.

11) Autumn is my favorite season!

11 Questions From Samantha…

1) What is one book you recommend to everyone? The Book Thief. BEST. BOOK. EVER.

2) f you were to meet your favorite author in person, what would you ask him/ her? Tough one! I always want to say I’d never ask a dumb question like “Where do you get your ideas from?” but I’d love to know how he/she plans out a book. Or what their writing process is like. Something like that.

3) If you had a time-travelling machine, what time period would you visit? WWII. Ahem.

4) Chocolate or Vanilla? CHOCOLATE. CHOOCCOOLLLAATTTEEE! I could live off of chocolate. Seriously.

5) What are your hobbies aside from reading/writing? Actually, I always feel a little bit embarrassed when people ask me this because there’s not a whole lot I do otherwise. I’m learning how to play the flute (I’ve been playing for about 9 months now) and I like to run. I also love listening to music, and I’m in my school’s chorus. (I’m not a GREAT singer, though!)

6) Who are your 3 singers/musicians? Taylor Swift (I actually attended the Red Concert on April 19, 2013! Go Swifties!!), Brit Nicole (a really great new Christian Pop singer I love), and Michael Buble.

7) Favorite quote or inspirational saying? “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’M POSSIBLE.” – Audrey Hepburn

8) What are your favorite bookish/writing blogs? The Notebook Sisters, The Loony Teen Writer, and of course, Young Writers Cafe! 🙂

9) What are your 3-5 things on your bucket list? to be in a food fight (lol), publish a novel, visit England, and a get a scholarship to college.

10) Do you have any pets? A very picky orange cat with white paws named Mittens. And my little sister. (Lol! I love her though :))

11) What book do you think best represents yourself? Hmm… probably Interrupted or Chasing Jupiter by Rachel Coker. She’s my favorite author, and both of her books’ main characters are a lot like myself. You should read them! 😉

And now for who I nominate. *Drum roll, please!*……

I nominate Rose over at Searching the Clouds, Topaz at her wonderful blog, and Emily at The Loony Teen Writer.

My Questions for Them…

1) Who is your absolute favorite author?

2) What inspired you to begin reading/writing?

3) What kind of music do you listen to?

4) What is your favorite dessert?

5) Favorite color? Why?

6) What do you do when you’re stressed?

7) What blogs do you follow?

8) Would you rather visit the future or the past?

9) Cats or dogs?

10) Any favorite quote?

11) Favorite place in the world?

Thank you guys! Hope you three who I nominated will participate! And for the rest of you – what are your hobbies, or blogs you follow? Have a great rest of the weekend!

Emily

the truth about forever by sarah dessen

All in all, this was a really great book. I loved the plot, the characters, and the character development (my favorite part in books, just not my favorite part when I myself am writing them!) and I was hooked – hook, line, and sinker in the first chapter and I didn’t set it down once!

The MC, Macy Queen, secludes herself from the rest of her friends and even from her own mother – trying to save herself from the grief she faces when her father died two years before. She plays safe – she makes sure she always appears calm and collected; perfect. Starting with her perfect boyfriend right down to her perfect study routine. But then she meets the whole Wish Catering gang and her whole summer turns around. There’s Kristy Palmetto and her peculiar scars, Monica Palmetto who’s anything but the outgoing, loud sprite her sister is, Delia, the pregnant owner of Wish Catering, Bert, her youngest nephew and Wes – her oldest nephew. The one who always tells Macy the truth.

I wasn’t impressed with the overall story line; it was sort of cliche and to me, the book didn’t stand out much from others like itself, and so it’s not necessarily on my favorites list. Like I already said, though, I loved the character development. Sarah Dessen definitely did a great job on that. Macy really changed by the end of the book, and I loved that about this book. One thing that did make it different was that the character development allowed Macy to grow and learn from her past throughout the book without the book feeling stilted and drawn-out.

By the end, I was very much in awe over The Truth About Forever. I really liked the characters – every character was well formed, particularly the Main Character, and I really enjoyed reading it. I’d definitely read it again, without hesitation. Two thumbs up!

Emily

top ten tuesday // books covers i’d frame as art

At first this morning, I was really disappointed because I got three or four new blog post emails from several blogs I’m subscribed to, and it was all TTT! Then I realized all of those bloggers don’t live in the US – and two in Australia, where currently it is May 7th! And here I was, thinking I’d missed Tuesday and a good blog post! 😀 Glad it’s still Tuesday… without further ado, here is this week’s Top Ten Tuesday.

1) Destiny Rewritten. One look at this beautiful picture and you’ll know exactly why I love this one.

destiny

2) Number the Stars. It’s just… stunning. It really is. And a classic.

numberthestars

3) Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares. It’s just so cute, isn’t it?! Plus I’m reading it right now. Love it!!

dash

5) Pride & Prejudice. There are lots of different covers, but I particularly love this one. I mean, really, some covers with this classic romance could do a lot better. But I love this cover.

pride

6) Mandy. I’ve always loved this cover, and this book will always, ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart. The cover just looks… amazing. Really stunning.

mandy

 

7) The Wizard of Oz. Is it just me, or are classic covers just the best?? This one is especially pretty!

oz

8) The Lions of Little Rock. So pretty.

lions

9) Dear Mr. Knightley. I hope they never change this one, because the cover art designer did a fabulous job. The cover looks just what a classic romance cover should look like, and when I read this one, I fell in love with the MC and the cover, so bonus! 😉

knight

10) The Book Thief. I saved this one for last, because it is by far my FAVORITE. Especially since it’s my FAVORITE book. Like, ever. So I found a picture of all of my favorite versions of the cover:

(Click on the image to make it bigger!)
(Click on the image to make it bigger!)

Until next time!

Emily

 

dusting off the blogs (#1)

Basically this is just sort of a segment I literally just made up (:P) because I’m still smack-dab in the middle of some books that I won’t be finishing anytime very soon. So here’s what I like to call a “filler” blog… about blogs! Below are top blogs that I absolutely adore! Definitely go and check them out! 🙂 (Oh, and um… my slight obsession with GIF’s right now is a little unhealthy, but enjoy them anyway.)

1) Rachel Coker – not only is she one of my favorite authors (plus she mentors my writing through email!), but she’s also a great blogger. Her blogs are always well written and either really thought-provoking or really funny. Either way, they always leave me smiling.

2) Topaz Winters – through the pseudonym ‘Winters’ she blogs, writes, sings/makes music, hangs out with her adorable dog Hachii, and she’s a Swiftie. What’s not to love?

Every time I see something on her blog that I’m admittedly jealous of. 

3) The Loony Teen WriterI’ve very recently subscribed to this little gem, but I’m loving it so far! Great book reviews, among other ‘bookish’ things to read about! Plus we share the same amazing name! (For those of you who don’t already know, that would be the definition of awesome. Ahem.)

4) Go Teen Writers – well, as you can probably see, I really love teen writers, hehehe! But this one offers a lot of great advice for writing and it’s lots of fun to read. I’ve read both authors’ books in the past and they’re both amazing writers/bloggers!

5) Old-Fashioned Charm – I’ve been wowed with this blog for the past year now and Miss Laurie hasn’t done anything to make me undo my avid subscription to this lovely little spot on the internet! Even without my emails updating me of new posts, I check regularly for new reads!!

Ahhh…

While I’ve come across many blogs in the past, these are the few that have stuck with me for a while and I absolutely love! (With, of course, the exception of #3.) What blogs do you follow?

 

the captive maiden by melanie dickerson

I was very surprised at how fast I sped through this book; two days! The page-turning events kept my heart pounding and my palms sweaty the entire time. The Captive Maiden is a fairy-tale retelling (one of my favorite genres to read! One many of you may have read/seen the movie of is a favorite of mine – Ella Enchanted), and this particular re-telling is a classic version of the one of the most known tales, “Cinderella.”

At first, the story really reminded me page after page of one of my favorite movies of all time, Ever After. I had no problem with this – I love, love, love that movie and while The Captive Maiden wasn’t a modern spin by itself of Cinderella, it wasn’t completely like every Cinderella version – book or movie – I’ve ever known. Last summer, I read The Fairest Maiden and The Healer’s Apprentice, also by Melanie Dickerson. I loved both of them, so when I began this one, I expected it to be very similar to the other books. And, to my pleasure, it was!

I really love these books because in Melanie Dickerson’s amazingly talented way, she manages to turn these classic fairy-tales into a creative spin all on her own, yet still very much corresponding to the original story. In this version, “Cinderella” is named Gisela, and her Prince Charming is actually the brother of the last Prince in The Fairest Maiden, Valten Gerstenberg. Of course you all know the basis of the story line – princess is living with her horrible stepmother and stepsisters who treat her as a servant and the girl dreams of a true love and escape from the life she’s lived with since her father’s death as a little girl.

In Melanie Dickerson’s telling, Gisela escapes to the tournament where Valten is participating, and when he wins the tournament he chooses her as the Queen of Beauty and Love! But Valten’s enemy Ruexner is out to get him… and his queen of beauty and love. The two get captured by the scoundrel and it’s up to Valten to save his beautiful princess.

I was pleasantly surprised at how it ended; I was enchanted with all of the characters the entire duration of the book and Melanie is a fabulously talented author in how she writes her main characters and creates heart-pounding scenes for readers to enjoy. I absolutely loved it! Definitely go and read this! 🙂

Emily

 

top ten tuesday // bookish things

“Top Ten Tuesday” is a blog segment hosted by The Broke & The BookishThis week’s top ten Tuesday is all about booking things! 🙂

1) Googling ‘bookish things’

2) Reading when you’re not supposed to be.

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3) Sniffing book pages. (I googled it! I’m not the only one, dad!!)

sniffingbooks

4) Reading aloud to your cat because no one else will listen.

catslisten

5) Having like a $50 fine to the library…

angrylibrarian

6) The joy of an empty journal; full of possibilities!

emptyjournal

7) Short books that hardly last two days >_<

nooo

8) Being so invested in books

fictioncry

9) If only she were real!

liesel

10) Reading books ten times, they’re so good.

bookfly

Emily

don’t you dare

I absolutely, positively hate it when someone interrupts my reading. I know that they don’t mean to be rude, or annoy me… (most of the time!) But really, it feels as irritating as someone going “Hey, do you want to see a picture of my dog?” while you’re in the middle of a sentence. Like, really? Is a picture of a dog more important than what I was just saying? I know it’s really not the same; after all, interrupting someone while they’re talking shows lack of patience, and it’s just rude. It shows the person you weren’t paying attention, and it can hurt one’s feelings.

But if someone interrupts me while I’m reading, and it’s completely obvious that I have a book in front of my face, I just want to yell, “Umm, excuse me while I vent on you here, but does it look like I’m doing nothing when I’m reading? Did you seriously just disturb my wonderful, oh-so-wonderful bliss?” Ugh. It really… irks me. 😀

Now. It does not always irk me so much, because there is a such thing as polite book interrupters. They tap me on the shoulder, plaster a smile on their face, ask me how my book is. I smile back and say “Good,” and then, “It’s about this girl who travels back in time,” and they say “Oh, really. That reminds me…” and somehow find a way to connect it to what they were going to say. Or they don’t connect it. They just act interested and say they’ll read it sometime soon, and then move onto talking about their dogs. But people, it’s just not nice to interrupt a reader right away.  Didn’t your mothers ever teach you manners?!

So, how do you deal with people interrupting your reading?

dogno

greetings from nowhere by barbara o’connor

I have to tell you, I’ve been trying to finish this book for a year or two now! (I know, after my review on The View from Saturday you probably think I put books off all the time…) but the book was good. I had to sort of push myself to finally finish this particular one, though, because the problems the characters faced were so point blank. There wasn’t as much character development as I would have liked, and the main problems in the book, as I said before, were very out there; throughout the book I felt like the author didn’t even try to make the reading process in and of itself suspenseful – more of “this is the character’s problem and this is how they solve it.”

Each chapter was a character’s perspective – there’s Aggie, Kirby, Loretta, and Willow – and how they face their fears and meet one another at the Sleepy Time Motel. Aggie is putting on a brave face when she’s forced to sell the motel, Kirby is being defiant because he’s stuck at the motel with his mother while their car is being fixed; then he has to go to a military school, Loretta is happy to be visiting the Smoky Mountains where her birth mom visited at one point, along with her adopted parents, and Willow is trying to embrace the changes in her life – her mother leaving her, and her father up and selling their house to buy a stinky old motel.

While I did thoroughly enjoy the book, I felt it was too short and fast-paced. Albeit it is completely written for younger readers, the author still could have done a better job. I would have loved to have gotten to know Aggie, Kirby, Loretta, and Willow better, and may have finished this one a few years ago when I first picked it up had it been more page-turning.

This was, however, a heartwarming tale that made me smile; in the end all of the characters got what they wanted or aimed for, and that makes the reader happy. Still, the point in telling a story is telling the journey the main character takes to get where they want to be, and the telling of the journey wasn’t over-the-top, nor thrilling or very exciting to me. A good book, even though in my opinion, it could be great.

But who knows? It could be for you. Go and read the book for yourself 😉

Emily

stacking the shelves

I recently heard about this meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews (I don’t follow her blog, but she is the host of this meme. :)) and thought it would be fun. It’s all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. SO while I’m working through some pretty long books and finals have been last week and Monday and Tuesday this week, I thought it would be good to share the books I hope to do reviews on soon when I’m not so busy! 🙂 (By the way, click on the images to see them larger.)

howtobelike I’ve been working on this one for a while; it’s a bit long! (Though I do love a good long book!) This book is all about Walt Disney, and it’s very cool to read about! I’m currently little over half-way done with the book, so this will probably be my next review!

gray Sometimes I like to pick up a random book from the library and see how it turns out – you never know if you’ll like it or not! This one is actually under a pile of discarded papers, broken pencils, post-it notes, and other assortments of things. (In the picture I took, you get a view of the inside of my desk! Not my neatest place, ha-ha!) Give me time on this one, but I’ll see if I can finish it and tell you what I think!

funny I kind of want to read this one, but I’m not sure… I don’t have it yet, but I’m thinking about getting it since I’ve read several good reviews 🙂

I definitely want to read this one! I’m going to order it as soon as I get my allowance… or see if my mom would be willing to buy it for me, lol 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time!

Emily