Tag Archives: books

Mini Book Review: Shadowspell

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Shadowspell CoverBook: Shadowspell by Jenna Black

Published January 2011 by St. Martin’s Press|224 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: Fairiewalker #2

Genre: YA Paranormal- Fairies

You can find Shadowspell on goodreads & Jenna Black on twitter & her website

Goodreads Summary: 

On top of spending most of her time in a bunker-like safe house and having her dates hijacked by a formidable Fae bodyguard, Faeriewalker Dana Hathaway is in for some more bad news: the Erlking and his pack of murderous minions known as the Wild Hunt have descended upon Avalon. With his homicidal appetite and immortal powers, the Erlking have long been the nightmare of the Fae realm. 

A fragile treaty with the Faerie Queen, sealed with a mysterious spell, is the one thing that keeps him from hunting unchecked in Avalon, the only place on Earth where humans and Fae live together. Which means Dana’s in trouble, since it’s common knowledge that the Faerie Queen wants her – and her rare Faeriewalker powers – dead. The smoldering, sexy Erlking’s got his sights set on Dana, but does he only seek to kill her, or does he have something much darker in mind?

What I Thought:

I was pleasantly surprised with Shadowspell, but I definitely liked it a lot more than Glimmerglass.  I thought that the addition of the Erlking was interesting and his backstory was also interesting, but it also fits with the story really well. I’m really curious to see what role the Erlking will play in the next book and how a certain deal he and Dana made will play out. Still, I find that deal particularly interesting because of an ability of his and how it’ll work because of Dana being a Fairiewalker.

I’m not sure how I feel about Dana in this book.  I think I’m feeling pretty neutral about her, and I feel pretty neutral about a lot of the other characters.  I get why Dana has a lot of issues but the only character who is really standing out right now is the Erlking.  I think his interest in her to be really interesting.

I really like the world that Black has created.  There’s so much going on in this world and there’s so much there!  It’s definitely a good second book and it really adds to the series.  Dana learns more about her abilities as a Fairiewalker, and she’s clearly not just any Fairiewalker.  That, combined with everything else going on, makes me feel like there’s a lot more going on than what we’re seeing.

Let’s Rate It:

I really liked Shadowspell and I can’t wait to read the next book!  To be honest, I’m not completely sure why I liked this one so much, but it was a really enjoyable read.  Shadowspell gets 4 stars.

Books I Couldn’t Finish: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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The Book Thief CoverEarlier this month, I decided it was time to read The Book Thief.  I’ve seen so many good reviews about The Book Thief, and I’ve seen it pop up on so many Top Ten Tuesdays that I finally starting reading it…only to not be able to get through it.  It’s rare for me to not finish a book, and even rarer for me to talk about the books I don’t finish.  But The Book Thief is such a big book in YA that I felt like I really needed to talk about why I had to not finish it.

I think I’d like to start off by saying that I got to page 155 in the Nook edition of the book.  I know numbering can be a little weird depending on what edition you’re reading, but the best I can tell, I got about a third of the way through.

I think the biggest problem for me is that I went in with such high expectations of The Book Thief that it was likely not going to live up to.  It definitely suffered from me really hyping it up.  I’ve seen so many raves that I wanted to love it.  And, of course, be able to finish it.

Here’s what it really comes down to.  The Book Thief is just not the book for me.  It definitely seems like it would be something I would like.  In fact, let’s start off with what The Book Thief is about, since that is one of the reasons why I didn’t finish it.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel Meminger’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Grave Digger’s Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up and closed down.”

So, I honestly thought that books would have a much bigger role than they really did.  Granted, I really didn’t look at the summary before I started reading.  And all I knew was that it was set during World War Two.  Keeping in mind I got through a third of the book before giving up, I really felt like books were much more important in the summary than they were in the part I read.  I have no problem admitting that I put it down, and that book thievery played a bigger role later on in the book.  But I really didn’t get a sense of a love affair with books.

Another thing that didn’t work for me was Death, who narrated the book.  It’s definitely different and unique, but not a different and unique that worked for me.  It felt like I was passively observing what was going on, instead of actively participating.  And because I felt like I was casually observing, I felt very disconnected from what was going on…and something about it seemed a little clinical to me.

Death as a narrator wasn’t completely horrible, but I felt like he went off on some random tangents that had nothing to do with the story, and the random bolded headlines and lists throughout the novel broke up the flow of the novel for me.  It was something I found really distracting.

When I was deciding whether or not I should DNF The Book Thief, I considered whether it was a book that I wasn’t reading at the right time.  Because sometimes, when I’m reading a book, I’m totally reading it at the wrong time, and need to read it when I’m in the right frame of mind for it.  And The Book Thief was not one of those books.  I usually know when that happens- I don’t know how, but I just do.

And I also considered whether I was reading in the right format: sometimes, print books or e-books don’t work for me, but I’ll totally listen to something on audio book.  However, The Book Thief was also not one of those books.

What I came to realize was that I was dreading having to read it and didn’t want to pick it up.  I was also forcing myself to read something I wasn’t into because seemingly everyone under the sun seems to love this book.  That was really when I knew I had to not finish it.  Yes, everyone seems to love it, and that’s okay, because I don’t have to love something just because everyone else does, you know?

I will say that there are a couple things I appreciate about The Book Thief.

I really like that it’s actually SET IN GERMANY.  I don’t read much historical fiction set during World War 2, but I feel like something set in Germany, about a German girl is rare.  Then again, I’m not too familiar with that part of historical fiction so I could be wrong.  I like that it focuses on what life was like in Germany during that time.

Overall, I did like the idea of Death narrating the novel- and especially narrating something during World War 2.  While I didn’t like it in this case, it’s an interesting way to narrate the novel.

While it didn’t resonate with me at all, I’d definitely recommend it if you haven’t read it yet.

Book Review: Providence

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Providence CoverBook: Providence by Lisa Colozza Cocca

Expected Publication is March 18, 2014 by Merit Press|Expected Number Of Pages: 256

Where I Got It: I got an e-ARC from netgalley.com, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find Providence on goodreads & you can find Lisa Colozza Cocca on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

The eldest of ten children on a dirt-poor farm, Becky trudges through life as a full-time babysitter, trying to avoid her father’s periodic violent rages. When the family’s barn burns down, her father lays the blame on Becky, and her own mother tells her to run for it. Run she does, hopping into an empty freight car. There, in a duffel bag, Becky finds an abandoned baby girl, only hours old. After years of tending to her siblings, sixteen-year-old Becky knows just what a baby needs. This baby needs a mother. With no mother around, Becky decides, at least temporarily, this baby needs her. When Becky hops off the train in a small Georgia town, it’s with baby “Georgia” in her arms. When she meets Rosie, an eccentric thrift-shop owner, who comes to value and love Becky as no one ever has, Becky rashly claims the baby as her own. Not everyone in town is as welcoming as Rosie, though. Many suspect Becky and her baby are not what they seem. Among the doubters is a beautiful, reclusive woman with her own terrible loss and a long history with Rosie. As Becky’s life becomes entangled with the lives of the people in town, including a handsome boy who suspects Becky is hiding something from her past, she finds her secrets more difficult to keep. Becky should grab the baby and run, but her newfound home and job with Rosie have given Becky the family she’s never known. Despite her guilt over leaving her mother alone, she is happy for the first time. But it’s a happiness not meant to last. When the truth comes out, Becky has the biggest decision of her life to make. Should she run away again? Should she stay–and fight? Or lie? What does the future hold for Becky and Georgia? With a greatness of heart and a stubborn insistence on hope found in few novels of any genre, “Providence” proves that home is where you find it, love is an active verb, and family is more than just a word.

What I Thought:

When I first started to read Providence, I wasn’t sure about it- initially, it seemed like something I wouldn’t like.  But as I kept reading,I started to get drawn into Becky’s world.

I felt for Becky, who had to grow up fast.  And finding a newborn on a train, and taking her in, and finding a place that becomes her home…Becky had to grow up even more.  I’m glad Georgia had people who cared for her, and I’m glad Becky found the same.  Something that didn’t set well with me was how Becky’s parents didn’t seem to care that she was gone and that we don’t see them fighting to get Becky back.  Still, it fit with why she left and never went back.  There is a part of me that wanted to see more of Becky’s life with her parents and life at home because I wanted more to see how much her new life contrasted with her old one.

I loved Rosie and how kind she was.  She really did give Becky and Georgia a home and they felt very much like a family. I’m not sure how I feel about Lily, especially with how the book ended.  On the one hand, I’m glad Becky and Georgia did find someone who cared about them and would take them in…but at the same time, I loved how Becky did what she needed to do in order to take care of Georgia.  Becky really did change a lot over the course of the book, and she has a really bright future ahead of her.  Still, it did seem like it was the best decision for everyone.

I will say that I kept picturing the book taking place in the 1950’s.  There’s something very old-timey about the town, and it was hard to imagine it taking place in present time.  Then again, I’ve never lived in a small town like the one Becky came across, so for all I know, small towns have that good-ole-day kind of feel.

Let’s Rate It:

I have a few issues with Providence, but overall, I really liked it!  I liked seeing Becky deal with and overcome some of the things she had happen.  And I like how welcoming people were to Becky.  Providence gets 4 stars.

Book Review: We’ll Always Have Summer

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We'll Always Have Summer CoverBook: We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

Published April 2011 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers|304 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: Summer #3

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find We’ll Always Have Summer on goodreads & Jenny Han on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

It’s been two years since Conrad told Belly to go with Jeremiah. She and Jeremiah have been inseparable ever since, even attending the same college– only, their relationship hasn’t exactly been the happily ever after Belly had hoped it would be. And when Jeremiah makes the worst mistake a boy can make, Belly is forced to question what she thought was true love. Does she really have a future with Jeremiah? Has she ever gotten over Conrad? It’s time for Belly to decide, once and for all, who has her heart forever.

What I Thought:

This series has such a special place in my heart now!  I just LOVED We’ll Always Have Summer!

I’ll admit, it’s slightly weird to see Belly in a place that’s not Cousin’s.  Cousin’s really is a special place, and so much has happened there.  But I also liked seeing Belly at college and how she’s really growing up, and how she’s not the same girl as she was when she was 16.  She had such a hard decision to make in We’ll Always Have Summer, but I think anyone who has read the series will be able to figure out who she chooses in the end.

Which is also interesting, because I’ve gone back and forth on who I wanted Belly to be with.  But as much as I liked her with Jeremiah at one point, this book really showed that he and Belly aren’t meant to be, no matter how much he cares about her.  There were things he did that made it feel like he was more in love with the idea of being with Belly than he actually loved her.  I’m sure he did love her, but he just seemed like a completely different Jeremiah in this book.

I just love the relationships we see in this book- the one between Belly and her brother, the one between Belly and her mom, Belly and Conrad…and there is even that part of me that liked Jeremiah and Belly, because I think it took being with Jeremiah and spending time at Cousin’s with Conrad for both Belly and Jeremiah to realize that it wasn’t going to work out.

We’ll Always Have Summer made me want Susannah back SO MUCH!  I couldn’t help but wonder what Susannah would think, and how different things would be if Susannah were still alive.  I love that she left a letter for Belly to read on her wedding day!  Speaking of Susannah…it really does seem like everyone’s made peace with her death.

I also like that we see happened two years after the events of the book, and that we get the resolution we’ve really been waiting for- assuming you wanted things to go that way, of course.  And I’m glad my copy of We’ll Always Have Summer included Conrad’s letters to Belly- I loved reading them!

Let’s Rate It:

I loved We’ll Always Have Summer, and this series makes me feel so nostalgic and wistful.  I’m glad things worked out the way they did, and Cousin’s is such a special place.  We’ll Always Have Summer gets 5 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite YA Contemporary Books

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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 Favorite YA Contemporary Books

I had so much trouble deciding between contemporary and paranormal, but with me being in such a contemporary mood lately, I decided to go for that!  There’s something about YA contemporary that’s comforting and nostalgic, and it somehow makes me feel like everything is going to be okay.  I could do several lists of my favorite YA contemporaries, but should I decide to revisit this list in the future…I’m pretty sure I could come up with even more favorites!

  1. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  Speak is the book that got me into YA contemporary, and I can’t help but re-read because I love Melinda.  Actually, I really could go with any of her books, because she is that amazing, but Speak is the one I’d recommend the most.
  2. Hate List by Jennifer Brown.  This is such an emotional book that I was crying by the end of the book and was still crying on the couch five or ten minutes later.  It’s such a heartbreaking look at the aftermath of a school shooting.
  3. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.  I just love The Fault In Our Stars!  It’s John Green, do I really need to explain why this one is a favorite?
  4. In Honor by Jessi Kirby.  I just loved the road trip Honor and Rusty took and I could relate to Honor so much!
  5. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.  I could relate to Lennie so much, and I totally understood what she was going through.
  6. Reason To Breathe by Rebecca Donovan.  There is a reason this series keeps popping up on my list…because Emma’s story is so heartbreaking and I can’t help but want things to be okay for her.
  7. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick.  I just loved the Garrett family, and how they were so welcoming to Samantha.
  8. Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.  I just can’t help but swoon over the setting and St. Clair.
  9. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han.  There’s something about this series that makes me want to curl up on the couch and read it over and over.  I think it’s because it’s set during the summer at the beach beach.
  10. A World Away by Nancy Grossman.  The narration of the audio book is what really made this book for me, but I just love Eliza’s story and her life living as a nanny for a non-Amish family.

Book Review: The Impossible Knife Of Memory

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The Impossible Knife Of Memory CoverBook: The Impossible Knife Of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Published January 2014 by Penguin Group|400 pages

Where I Got It: Nook store

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

You can find The Impossible Knife Of Memory on goodreads & Laurie Halse Anderson on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

What I Thought:

When I saw that Laurie Halse Anderson had a new book, I knew I had to read it!  It’s right up there with Speak as one of my favorite Laurie Halse Anderson books, and I couldn’t help but relate to Hayley.

Hayley has so much going on at home with her dad, and she definitely has a lot of her own issues to deal with, not to mean everything her dad is going through.  Hayley’s dad isn’t the only going through things.

What really stuck with me was how we’d see a chapter from Andy’s POV every once in a while.  It struck me as something really different because you don’t normally see anything from the POV of the parent, and it really added to what was going on with both Andy and Hayley.

I felt like Anderson handled Andy’s PTSD and his experiences as a soldier so well and with so much care.  I’m glad Hayley has good friends in Grace and Finn and that she realized she can count on Trish, even with Trish leaving them years earlier. It’s such a great look at PTSD and how everyone deals with it and that it’s not limited to the person with PTSD but their friends and family as well.

My only complaint- which is a minor one- is that the ending wrapped up a little too nicely, especially with everything that happened in the book.  I did expect a happy-ish/hopeful ending, which we definitely got, but…something about it was a little too nice and neat.  Still, I so very much loved everything about this book, and I’m willing to overlook the ending because Laurie Halse Anderson has done such a good job at making both Hayley and her dad easy to relate to and understand.

Let’s Rate It:

The Impossible Knife Of Memory is another amazing book by Laurie Halse Anderson.  She does such a great job at creating characters who seem like real people and are so easy to relate to, even if you’ve never been through what they’re going through.  I love the few chapters from Andy’s point of view, and it really adds to Hayley’s story.  The Impossible Knife Of Memory gets 5 stars.

Book Review: Ignite Me

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Ignite Me CoverBook: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Published February 2014 by HarperCollins|416 pages

Where I Got It: the Nook store

Series: Shatter Me #3

Genre: YA Paranormal Dystopic

You can find Ignite Me on goodreads & Tahereh Mafi on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she’ll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew – about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam – was wrong.

What I Thought:

I can’t believe it’s all over!  But it’s such a good ending for all of the characters, and I can’t imagine it ending any other way. I really can’t.  

Ignite Me starts where Unravel Me left off, and only a chapter in, we got a moment that had me going “oh my god, what just happened, did Warner really say that, oh my god, how could that possibly happen?”  And I knew at that moment that I needed to not read this book during lunch, because I manage to not yell at my Nook, even though I really wanted to.  And of course, everything turned out okay in regards to that particular revelation.  

I just love Juliette and how much she’s changed and grown as a person since we saw her in Shatter Me.  She’s come to accept her abilities and what she has to do in order change things.  I just love her friendship with Kenji, who is still such a great character.  I’m still not sure how I feel about Adam or Warner, but I will say that Warner has grown on me, and Adam was slightly irritating.  After reading Ignite Me, though, I’m pretty sold on Warner and Juliette.  They really are good for each and bring out the best in each other.  Still, I’m wondering if my neutrality towards Warner and Adam is because I haven’t read the novellas yet.  

The ending!  It fit, but I think part of me was expecting something different.  I like that the book ends with a feeling of hope and that things are going to be different, but at the same time, part of me wanted a glimpse of what things were like after the big battle happened.  

I do miss the strike throughs we saw in the other books, but there is still the repetition of certain words and the interesting placement of some of the text that we saw in Shatter Me and Unravel Me.  I still love that we see Juliette’s thoughts so well, and I still felt like we were experiencing what she was experiencing.  

Let’s Rate It:

Ignite Me is such a good ending to a series that I’ve come to love!  I’m sad to see it come to an end, but I love how much Juliette changed over the course of the series.  Ignite Me gets 5 stars.  

Book Review: Cress

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Cress CoverBook: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Published February 2014 by Feiwel & Friends|560 pages

Where I Got It: at the Nook store

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #3

Genre: YA Dystopic/Fairy Tale Re-Telling

You can find Cress on goodreads and Marissa Meyer on Twitter, Facebook and her website

Goodreads Summary: 

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard. 

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

What I Thought:

Cress was so completely awesome!!!  Honestly, I think it might be my favorite in the series so far.  Cress has such an interesting story, and I LOVE what Meyer did with the Rapunzel story.  And how it connects to Cinder’s story…goodness, I wasn’t expecting some of the things that came up in this book!

I was surprised I loved Cress so much, considering how I excited I was and how much I had hyped up the book.  It definitely exceeded the already high expectations I had for Cress.  I just love how things from the first two books that I didn’t even think about come up in Cress (like something Dr. Erland mentioned about his daughter in Cinder) and how many connections there are between the characters and everything that’s going on.

There’s so much action and I liked that we had several different POV’s- Cinder, Scarlet and Cress, and it worked really well! Especially because they all have their own part in trying to put a stop to Kai’s wedding to Queen Levana.

Let’s start with Cress!  I just love her story, and I really do love her story the most.  I found her to be really sympathetic and lovable, and I felt bad that she was on a satellite for so long with only a few visits from Sybil, who worked closely with Queen Levana.

I also liked Scarlet’s story, especially when she meets Winter, who will be the focus of the next book.  Which I am anxiously awaiting, because hers another story I think I’ll love.  I like Cinder a lot, but I was so interested in what was going on with everyone else that I didn’t pay too much attention to Cinder herself.  We certainly learn some things when Cress focuses on Cinder, but I wasn’t as interested in her story as I had been with the other books.

Cress is such an awesome book, and it really makes an already awesome series even more awesome.  Plus, it’s easily my favorite cover in the series.  And I like how the covers all incorporate a really important element from the original fairy tale- a shoe from Cinderella, the cloak from Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel’s hair.  Even more cool is how the shoe, the cloak, and the hair tie are all red.

Let’s Rate It:

Cress is such an amazing addition to the series, and I’m so excited to read Winter!  I love how Meyer re-told Rapunzel, and Cress is easily my favorite book in the series so far.  Cress gets 5 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Popular Authors I’ve Never Read

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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 Authors And Books I’ve Never Read

This was a really challenging list for me, because I feel like I’m pretty good at reading the popular stuff.  Still, I’ve managed to find some authors I’ve never read.  Although I admit to adding quite a few books because…that somehow seems to make my list work better.

  1. Sarah Dessen is at the top of my list of people I’ve never read.  I’ve tried to read her, but I’ve had to DNF the handful of books I’ve tried…I know people love her, but I just can’t seem to get through her books.
  2. The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer Smith.  Still haven’t read it, but I’m kind of looking forward to reading it someday soon.
  3. Nalini Singh.  I know people love her books but I haven’t had a chance to read her yet.
  4. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare.  I still haven’t read this series, but for now, I’m going to wait until I finish Mortal Instruments…whenever that is.
  5. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.  I keep telling myself I’m going to read it but I still haven’t done it…
  6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I’ve only read the first few pages, but I’m still including it because I’m only a few pages in.
  7. Rainbow Rowell.  I have Fangirl and Eleanor & Park, I just need to actually read them.
  8. Gillian Flynn.  I’ve tried to read Gone Girl but I just couldn’t get past the first few pages.
  9. Patrick Ness.  I tried reading Chaos Walking but couldn’t get through the first chapter because the accent was written out and that drives me insane to the point of not reading books because if it.  Perhaps, one day, I will be not annoyed enough to the point that I may pick up the audio book.
  10. Neil Gaiman popped into my head right now.  I have one of his books on my Nook, because it was only, like, 1.99 so I bought it- only to not read it, of course.

Currently Obsessed With #2: February!

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I can’t believe it’s time for another round of what I’m currently obsessed with!

One of the big things has been cookbooks.  I’m completely horrible about actually using them, but I still can’t help but collect them!  I’ve added a few to my really small collection.  There’s something fun about flipping through a cookbook, figuring out what to make for dinner (or lunch for work) and shopping and then making something yummy.

Cookbooks

It’s not even funny how much of a Rachael Ray fan I am!  I know there are people out there who doubt the whole 30-minute meal thing, but her recipes really do take about half an hour…at least, they do for me.  And I saw the vegan one when I was looking at vegetarian cookbooks, and since I have a couple of her other cookbooks, I had a feeling this would be another good one to add to my collection.  I’m not vegan, but it’s fun to try new things and new ways of cooking things when you cut out certain ingredients.

Speaking of books…I got the Nook tablet!  My old one still works fine, but…it just seemed seemed like time for a new one! Everything seems so much more clear, and the covers look so much better in color than they did in black and white!  Things were clear on my old Nook, but somehow, everything seems so much clearer and sharper.  I think my favorite thing about it is the cover, which is totally awesome and I can’t stop looking at it.

Nook Cover

The cover is a photo from the archives over at the New York Times, and when I saw it, I knew that was the cover I had to get!

I’ve been spending a lot of time on Etsy lately, and I’ve had my eye on this bag.  And there’s also this other bag that I also really like too.  And I’ve had my eye on a few things at Ruche too.  I also really liked this post about “real” readers over on Book Riot.  I kind of need to be better about bookmarking cool stuff I read on blogs, because I know I’ve read some interesting posts that I totally forgot to bookmark.

Remember that book jar I was talking about last month?  I finally put it together, only to realize the jar I have is nowhere near big enough for all the books I want to have in it.  It’ll work for the time being until I decide to get something bigger…or if I want another one at all.

Book Jar

As for music…I have quite a few songs that I can’t stop listening to!

Like Happy by Pharrell.

And Feel Again by OneRepublic.

And we can’t forget about Dark Horse by Katy Perry.

Or Team by Lorde.

And I still can’t get Let It Go out of my head.

To name a few…you can find the full February playlist on spotify.  (I’m wingedcreature, in case anyone is wondering). I don’t use Spotify all that much, mostly because I haven’t completely figured out to use it.  Other than how to make playlists. But I figured it would be a great place for making playlists, so we’ll see how it works out.

The Olympics!  I almost forgot to talk about them!  I just love the Olympics, and the Opening Ceremonies this year were amazing.  Definitely right up there…they’re definitely my favorite after Bejing.  It’s just so fun watching a lot of sports that I don’t normally watch.  Like the biathalon, where they ski and than stop and shoot at a target.  Or speed skating or curling! And the ice skating was so good this year, especially the ice dancing, which was exceptionally good this Olympics.  And it’s cool that you have all of these countries known for skiing and snowboarding competing, and then some country you wouldn’t expect to have an athlete competing in the Winter Olympics.

Honestly, I think that’s it for this month.  I’ve been so busy watching the Olympics, and I’ve had some stuff going on (that’s all taken care of now) and I’ve been so exhausted that I haven’t really been into a lot of a stuff this month.  Hopefully I’ll have more to share next time!