Currently Obsessed With: I Survived November!

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Currently Obsessed With is a once-a-month feature (sometimes more) where I talk about my favorite things and what’s been going on the last month.

I can’t believe November is over already!  It was definitely eventful, with both NaNoWriMo going on, and with a sprained ankle that happened early in November.  Seriously, I fell down and hurt myself, but it’s a lot better.  I’m finally walking without an ankle brace (well, mostly) and I wrote 50,000 words this month.

Nails/Beauty:

I decided to skip the November Maven box.  I wasn’t super into the colors, and the ones I was kind of interested in were way too similar to other colors I already have.  I did get a glitter-y top coat from Sephora, which I did over black.  It has this really cool paint-splattered effect, and it looked really pretty on top of the black, but it was super-hard to remove.  Glitter polish always is, but this is seriously the hardest removal ever. It took me a good hour of soaking my nails in nail polish remover for it to even sort of start coming off, so if I wear it again, I’ll probably do it as an accent nail.

I also got another Urban Decay eye shadow, this time in Bordello.  I like that with Urban Decay, you can create your own eye shadow palattes and switch out the colors.  I have no idea if you can do this with other brands, but it’s nice to be able to create your own, with colors I know I’ll wear, instead of one where I use 1 or 2 and ignore the other ones.

Crochet:

I’ve been working on a couple of scarves for Christmas presents- one for a Secret Santa, and the other is from someone at work who wanted a scarf for his wife for a Christmas present.  I found this awesome chevron scarf pattern that I really like, and I totally want to make another one already.  And I’m also using this super-simple infinity scarf pattern.  I’m also working on a super-secret Christmas present that I’ll share next month.  Oh, I’m also crocheting a Viking helmet that is currently on hold, because of the other stuff I’m crocheting. It’ll be awesome, because 1, it’s a Viking helmet, and 2- it’s bright green.  You can’t go wrong with that combination!

I also got a huge bag full of yarn!  Someone at work found some yarn that belonged to her grandma, and she was nice enough to give it to me.  I think I might have a project or two in mind…it’s time to pick up amigurumi!

Books:

I only got School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins.  It’s a Hex Hall spin-off that I’ve been wanting to read for a while. Although…it’s been a while since I’ve listened to an audio book, so it may be time to start getting back into them.

TV:

I’ve finished season 4 of Blue Bloods, but I am also too lazy to hunt down season 5.  I also started watching The 100 (finally!) and I really like it.  I’ve also been watching Pretty Little Liars, which I actually like a lot better than the books (at least, the first 10, because I really didn’t care after the 10th one to keep going).  It’s so addictive, and I wish the books had that quality- if only the books didn’t feel so repetitive.

Around The Internet:

So many things!

Music:

I am sharing the playlist I created for NaNo this year!  Except for Blank Space by Taylor Swift, because her music is no longer on Spotify.  And a few other songs I couldn’t find on Spotify.  Enjoy!

Let’s Talk About How I Wrote 50,069 Words In 29 Days

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Winner-2014-Twitter-Profile

I wrote words.  50,069 of them, to be exact, which means I have “won” NaNoWriMo for the 9th year in a row- I’ve won more, if you’re going by number of novels I’ve written, and not number of years.

This November is one of the more interesting Novembers I’ve had in a while.  I actually wrote just one novel, and didn’t have the beginnings of several different novels because I didn’t like anything I was writing.

I liked being able to focus on one book this year, but I also like having two because I can switch back and forth if I’m having trouble with one.

It’s weird, because this year, I didn’t struggle with writing until I hit 40,000 words, which is usually one of the easier parts of writing for me.  I still wrote, and it was hard, but not too hard, since I still got to my goal.  But for whatever reason, I just didn’t want to keep writing it.

I went into the month with some ideas and notes, and a very vague idea of plot and characters, but no other concrete details. I think this is one of those novels I just needed to start writing, because I had a lot of trouble figuring out this world and what I wanted it to be.  Just writing and coming up with this world as I wrote it gave me some really good ideas of what I wanted to do (or didn’t want to do) and if it was something I wanted to do in this book.

I definitely realized that this is a book I want to go back and re-write next year, and I really want to spend the next 11 months working on characters and this world, and reading it over so I have a more organized idea of this world.  I didn’t keep track of anything I discovered about this world, mostly because I was more focused on actually writing, and any inconsistencies can always be fixed later on (if I were one to go back and edit).

I actually really want to use Scrivener to keep track of everything.  It really does seem seem like the best way to keep everything organized.  I’ve also heard really good things about it, so that really helps (as does the discount all participants get once November is over).

It’s always fun to set down with a goal of doing something, and do it knowing that not only are thousands of other people doing it, but that there’s a deadline.  I like it because it’s a way for my to get whatever ideas I have written (because I know I would never write them otherwise) and it’s a good starting point if I ever decide to go back and work on one of them.  NaNo gets me to actually write without worrying about how good it is.  And I love the community too!  I’ve met so many cool people through NaNo.  And the books that have been published that started out as a NaNoWriMo novel is really inspiring!

I really did have a good November, and I hope everyone else did too!

ARC Book Review: The Night House

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The Night House CoverBook: The Night House by Rachel Tafoya

Expected Publication is December 9, 2014 by Month9Books|331 pages

Where I Got: I got an advanced copy directly from Month9Books, which hasn’t influenced my review in way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Paranormal- Vampires

You can find The Night House on goodreads & Rachel Tafoya on twitter and on tumblr

Goodreads Summary: 

Bianca St. Germain works at a Night House, a place where vampires like the aristocratic Jeremiah Archer, pay to feed on humans, and she doesn’t much care what others think of her. The money is good, and at least there, she’s safe. Bianca also doesn’t care that the Night House is killing her. All she cares about is: nauth, the highly addictive poison in vampire bites that brings a euphoria like no drug ever could.

But when Bianca meets James, a reclusive empath who feels everything she does, for the first time, she considers a life outside of the Night House and a someone worth living for. But Jeremiah has decided to keep Bianca for himself; he won’t allow her to walk away.

As she allows her feelings for James to grow, she struggles to contain nauth’s strong hold on her life. If they are to have a future, James must make her see what she’s worth, what she means to him, before Jeremiah and nauth claim her for good.

What I Thought:

I wasn’t sure about The Night House at first, but as I kept reading, I was pulled in Bianca’s world, and wanted to keep reading to figure out what her world was like and what was going on.

I thought the idea of Night Houses to be really interesting.  A place where vampires can feed, and yet they are places that most people don’t seem to be aware of…it’s different.  And nauth is also really different but in a good way.  Everything Tafoya does with vampires is really believable (at least, it is to me).

Also: there definitely seems to be a structure with the vampires- kings and monarchs and regular vampires, and they all have their own territories.

What’s odd is that The Night House is a stand-alone book, which seems really rare for a paranormal.  And yet, it works really well.  Bianca’s world felt so detailed, even though I still have quite a few questions.  Like, I feel like there’s so much more to the vampire social structure, and James, this empath.  There have to be other people with abilities, right?  I’m really curious to know if there are, and if there are other hidden worlds in this one.

Bianca’s world unravels as we keep reading, and we get enough of her world to know what’s going on. Normally, I like to know as much about a world as possible, especially with a paranormal world.  And yet, I liked learning more about this world.  It definitely felt like Tafoya knew so much more about Bianca’s world then what we get in the book.  At least, that’s what it felt like to me, because I really felt like I was in this world.

Initially, I wasn’t sure about The Night House, because I felt confused about what was going on.  Things didn’t really make sense to me, but I’m really glad I stuck with it, because it really is a unique take on vampires.

Let’s Rate It:

The Night House was such a pleasant surprise!  I really like this world, and it’s full of detail, even though we only get what we need to know.  The Night House gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Dead Jed 2: Dawn Of The Jed

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Dead Jed 2 CoverBook: Dead Jed 2: Dawn Of The Jed by Scott Craven

Expected Publication is in December 2014 by Month9Books|Expected Number Of Pages: 236

Where I Got It: I got an advanced copy directly from Month9Books, which hasn’t influenced my review in anyway.  Promise!

Series: Dead Jed #2

Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary with a hint of Zombie

You can find Dead Jed 2 on goodreads

Goodreads Summary: 

The first part of seventh grade was rough on Jed, but things are looking up now that Christmas is almost here. As with past Christmases, Jed asks for the one thing he’s always wanted–a dog–and again, his parents tell him they’re not ready. But fate has a different plan when Jed sees a dog get run over by a car. Then, it happens. Jed suddenly has a pet, Tread, a zombie dog bearing his namesake–a tire tread down his back. Jed may have gained a dog, but he loses his best friend Luke, who fears the way Jed created his undead pet.

When Jed returns to school, he finds a mysterious group called the No Zombies Now Network spreading rumors of the dangers the undead pose to normal people. Forced to disprove Hollywood stereotypes, Jed has his work cut out for him as stories of a zombie dog begin to circulate. Jed could be expelled if he can’t expose the NZN Network as a fraud. Jed needs help from his kind of girlfriend Anna, especially after he discovers Luke has joined the shadowy group.

Once again navigating the treacherous waters of middle school, Jed does his best to stay in one piece. Only this time he’ll need even more duct tape and staples than usual.

What I Thought:

I really liked Dead Jed 2!

It’s such a fun, cool book about a kid who just happens to be a zombie.  I liked the first Dead Jed book, but I liked this one a lot more.  I think it’s because we already know Jed and what’s going on in his life.

I think one of my favorite things about this book was Tread!  Tread and Jed are a pretty good pair, especially since they’re both zombies.  Jed has a lot of challenges in this book with the NZN Network, and having some problems with Luke because of Tread.

I really liked the science fair, and how it went very, very wrong.  But I also liked that Jed, Anna and Luke wanted to prove the Tech Club wrong.  I’m glad that Luke and Jed are such good friends, and that he also has a good friend in Anna.  I really hope there’s a third book, because I really like this series and I can’t wait to see what else Jed has to deal with.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Dead Jed 2.  I like that we went right into his world, and what he has to deal with on a daily basis. It’s something I think a lot of people can relate to, and I was definitely reminded of my middle school years and what it was like.  Dead Jed 2: Dawn Of The Jed gets 4 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR List

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top ten list based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top Ten Tuesdays here.

Top Ten Books I’d Like To Read This Winter

Winter reading list time!  Not that I ever stick to these lists, but I’m hoping to read at least one of the books on my list this winter.  I haven’t done much reading this month, but I really want to get more reading done this winter!

  1. Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII’s Obsession  by Elizabeth Norton.  I really need to read some non-fiction, and this Anne Boleyn biography is definitely on the list.
  2. Perils Of Pleasure by Julie Ann Long.  I keep telling myself I’m going to read it, so hopefully, I’ll read it in what passes for winter in San Diego.
  3. Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs.  I really need to finish this series that’s a Medusa re-telling.
  4. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare.  I’m kind of not sure if I’m ready to jump into another Cassandra Clare series, but I’ve heard such good things that I also really want to read it.
  5. School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins.  I really liked Hex Hall, and yet, I have not yet read the spin-off yet.
  6. Renegade by Cambria Hebert.  I really need to finish this series.  After re-reading the first three books because I only vaguely remember what happened.
  7. Throne Of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.  I so need to know what people are talking about with this one.
  8. Sever by Lauren DeStefano.  I want to know how it ends, and why Rhine seems to be so special.
  9. Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres.  I listened to A Thousand Lives, also written by Scheeres, and liked it, so I’m curious about her own memoir.
  10. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld.  I’m intrigued by this story within a story.

Book Talk: Mockingjay, Part 1, With Spoilers!

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Book Talk is an occasional feature where I talk about book-ish non-review topics.

Book Talk

Today is all about Mockingjay, which I saw yesterday!  I’m not super-picky when it comes to movie adaptations, but The Hunger Games movies have been really, really good!

First, the non-spoilery part!  I really liked the movie, and thought it was pretty true to the book.  There are changes, of course, but I thought they worked really well.

Now, it’s time to get spoiler-y, so read at your own risk!

So, after seeing Mockingjay, I decided to re-read the book, since it’s been a while since I’ve read it.  (Admittedly, I only read part of it, because I kind of stopped a few pages after where they decided to split the movie into the 2 parts).

I think the biggest change was how we didn’t see most of survivors from District 12 in the movie- just her mom, Prim and Gale. Which was fine, because there’s enough going on.  All of the stuff with her prep team wasn’t in the movie, and a lot of their story (plus a lot of the story that features District 12 people) were incorporated into Effie’s story, which I liked.  They had to make cuts and changes, and they did make sense to me.  Having Effie…I just love Effie, and while she’s still her, she a more muted Effie. I do wonder if we’ll see her prep team at all, but I doubt it, since the movies really focused on her relationship with Cinna.

The two scenes that really got me were in District 8- in the hospital- and when Jennifer Lawrence was singing The Hanging Tree. And I really loved seeing some of the rebellions in the districts, particularly the District 5 rebellion.  Although…they had her sing The Hanging Tree, but not Rue’s Lullaby from the first movie?  I’m still annoyed that wasn’t in the movie.

I also liked actually seeing the propaganda spots and the mission to get Peeta, Johanna and Annie out of the capitol.  When I first heard that they were splitting this book into 2 movies, I wasn’t sure how it would work, but so far, I’m actually glad that they did. There’s not a lot of action in this one, because of where they ended it, and it’s really setting up the last 100+ pages (or, part 2).

I was also curious about where they were going to end the movie, which is Katniss watching looking in on Peeta in the hospital wing.  It did seem like a good place to end the movie, but there was part of me that was hoping they wouldn’t end the movie with Peeta choking Katniss, which did seem like a possibility for a few seconds.  I’m glad they didn’t end it there, and gave us a little bit more.

I’m really happy with the movie overall, though.  I didn’t recognize Julianne Moore as President Snow, and it drove me crazy that I couldn’t figure out who it was.  I don’t pay a lot of attention to casting news, and while I’m sure I heard that, it also didn’t stick.  I liked the cast they went with for the new characters, and I really liked Pollux!  I think he’s my favorite minor character in the movie, and Jennifer Lawrence was completely awesome as Katniss.

I’m definitely looking forward to the 2nd part of Mockingjay!

Book Review: Fever

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Fever CoverBook: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Published February 2012 by Simon & Schuster|241 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Chemical Garden #2

Genre: YA Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopic

You can find Fever on goodreads & Lauren DeStefano on Twitter and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The New York Times bestselling sequel to Wither reveals a world as captivating and as treacherous as the one Rhine left behind.

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they ran away from. Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again or worse.

The road they are on is long and perilous in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price now that she has more to lose than ever.

What I Thought:

After reading Wither a few months, I finally finished Fever.   I liked Fever,  but really, I have no idea why I liked it.

I think I’m going to start off with what I didn’t like about Fever.

For one thing (and mostly importantly), Fever felt like filler.  It felt really slow, and I felt like not much happened.  I also feel like we didn’t learn much about this world.  We’ll get to that later.

Two, I don’t care about Linden and Rhine, and I didn’t care about Gabriel and Rhine.  The romance (both of them) don’t work for me at all, even though people are getting married to have kids so that people can find an antidote to the young dying so young.  I wished I cared about the romance, and yet, I can’t care.

Three, why on earth would Rhine go in a car with Vaughn?  This makes no sense to me, especially given where she ends up.

And four: Rowan.  All of that trouble to find him, and yet, well, #3.

Wait, five: I didn’t care about any of the characters, even the ones I felt like we were supposed to like.  They were just…there.

And yet, I still find this world interesting.  The carnival?  It was bizarre, and yet it makes sense for this horrible world.  I can totally see places like that popping up all over the place.

And why on earth does Rhine seem to be the key to everything?  Remember reason #1 for why I didn’t like Fever, and how we’d get to world-building?  This is that time.

I know she’s the heroine, and that Vaughn is looking for an antidote, and so Rhine is going to be the key to figuring everything out, but I just really want to know what makes her so important!  I felt like so much more could have been done with her in this book.  But I do find myself wanting to read the last book, just to see what happens.

And I do like the feel of the book.  There’s something very odd yet really realistic about this book that works really well.

Oh, the cover!  It fits the book perfectly, and it does make a lot of sense once you read the book.  I don’t particularly like it, and the first thing I thought was the girl on the cover looks like she’s been drugged. Again, it totally makes sense given what happens in the book but still.

Let’s Rate It:

It’s weird, because I liked this book, but find myself unable to pinpoint WHY I liked the book, so I’m going to go with the vague and not helpful, I just liked it.  Fever gets 3 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Sequels I Can’t Wait To Get

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top ten list based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top Ten Tuesdays here.

Top Ten Sequels I Can’t Wait To Get

It’s a good thing I read a lot of series, because that makes this list so much easier!  But also hard, because, because how how am I supposed to pick just 10?  These are the sequels I’m looking forward to reading the most!

  1. I need the rest of the Guild Hunter’s series by Nalini Singh!  I really liked the first one and while I don’t normally stick with romance series, this is one I want to keep reading.
  2. Breaker by Emma Raveling.  After the way the 3rd book ended, I need to read this one now.  The cliffhanger ending has been driving me insane!
  3. Unraveled by Gennifer Albin.
  4. Winter by Marissa Meyer.  I’m hoping a miracle happens and this one comes out soon.  I know I’ll get through the next year or so until it comes out but that seems so far away and I want to read it now!
  5. Dangerous Deception by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  Why is this not out yet?  I want to know what’s going on with Ridley and Link.
  6. Charmed by Michelle Krys.  I really liked Hexed, and it’s natural I’d want to read Charmed to see what Indie’s up to.
  7. The Heart Of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson.  So, the first book, The Kiss Of Deception is in the running for one of my favorite books this year, and I know The Heart Of Betrayal is going to be just as awesome.
  8. The Life And Times Of Jamie Lee Coleman by Michael Glasscock.  I really like this historical fiction series, and I need to read this third one soon!
  9. The Fury by Colleen Oakes.  I don’t read many Alice In Wonderland re-tellings, but I really recommend this series, and I can’t wait to read this book.
  10. The Goddess Inheritance by Aimee Carter.  I really just need to finish this series.  I don’t know know why I haven’t read it yet!

Book Review: Mortal Heart

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Mortal Heart CoverBook: Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers

Published November 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|402 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: His Fair Assassins #3

Genre: YA Historical Fiction with a hint of paranormal/fantasy

You can find Mortal Heart on goodreads & Robin LaFevers on twitter, facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.

She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind doesn’t mean she has.

What I Thought:

I think Mortal Heart is my favorite book in this series!  I really love Annith, and I think she’s my favorite of the three girls we meet in the series.  She was the one we knew the least about, because she was at the convent, while Ismae and Sybella were off on their missions.

I really connected with Annith, and I could relate to wanting to be good enough to go out serve Death, and being the one who’s supposed to be the Seeress, because she is so obedient.  Of course, we do learn why that is, and it just makes me really dislike the Abbess.  I don’t know that I had thoughts on her before, but with this one?  My dislike of her grew over the course of the book.

I understand why she acted the way she did, but I still can’t like her.

I loved learning more about Annith, who has been such a mystery for most of the series, and I loved seeing her story unfold, because it really is the one that’s the most interesting to me.  She most definitely is not an ordinary daughter of Mortain, and there is a part of me that wished there was a fourth book in the series just to see what happens with the characters after the events of this book.

Granted, each book tells the entire story really well, while also standing alone on it’s own.  This book really makes me wish that Anne got her own story.  I’m really hoping that she does, but either way, I’m totally going to read more about this time period.  I love how the story of the convent and the older gods are intertwined with what was going with France and Brittany, and I’ve loved the historical part of the book.

Let’s Rate It:

Still, while I really liked it, and while Mortal Heart is my favorite book in the series and there are SO MANY THINGS I like about it, at the same time, I didn’t fall in love with it and I don’t know why.  Still, I really do love Annith, and I’m really glad that she got out of the convent.  Mortal Heart gets 4 stars.

Let’s Talk About How NaNoWriMo Is Going

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I talked about how I’m doing NaNo earlier this month, and thought I’d actually do an update on how it’s going.

I started off really well, and was even ahead for the first few days.  Then Monday happened, and before I knew it, I was behind on my word count to varying degrees, then I got close to being caught up, then varying degrees of being behind again.

So, basically, to write 50,000 words in 30 days, you have to write 1,667 words per day.  There’s even a graph that tells you where you need to be, and how far off you are from that, and how much you need to write every day to reach the 50,000, plus a whole bunch of other stats.

I really thought I’d be caught up, or if not completely caught up, then not too far off.  I mean, I’m currently at 20,094, and today’s goal is 25,000, so I’m only 5000 behind where I should be.  I’ve done NaNo enough years that I know that a 5,000 word gap isn’t the worst gap ever, and I’ve totally been behind more than that and still reached 50,000, so I’m not too worried.

I sprained my ankle over a week ago, and couldn’t walk on it the first day, I could barely walk on it the second day, and while I can now walk (with a brace and limping around), you’d think that would be good for writing. Seriously, moving was really hard, and I tried to move as little as possible, and yet, I found myself distracted by catching up on shows on Hulu and watching stuff on Netflix.  Hence, not really writing.

This year, more than any other year, I’ve really struggled with writing at home.  In the past, I’ve had no problem writing at home, but this year?  I can barely get anything going, which is why there huge spikes on the weekends, when I’m at write-ins- and randomly, on Wednesdays, when I’m at a write-in.  Writing not at home, and with other people, has been super-helpful this year, because for some reason, it’s really working this year to write at other places.

Considering that I only went in with very vague ideas of plot and characters, I haven’t really struggled with the writing itself.  It, of course, would need a lot of work if I ever went back to edit but I’ve had no trouble coming up with anything relating to this world at all.  I kind of feel like I need some sort of chart or something to help me keep up with things I’ve learned, and a bunch of new characters I’ve come up with.  Every year, there are always scenes that I just don’t want to write so I always skip over those to the scenes I do want to write, and this year is no exception, but it does seem to be happening a lot less than normal this year.

This update is a bit short, but I think that’s all I have for now.  I’m definitely hoping to have an update next week!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!