November 2014 Reading Goals

Hello? Anybody still here? I know things have been quiet around here and I'm just going to stop apologizing for it. Life has changed significantly with my new job and I have zero free time at work these days which limits my blogging life. This is great because I'm way more efficient and getting paid for every second I work, but sad for little old bloggy. I'm satisfied doing what I can and I hope you continue to enjoy the sporadic posts that will pop up from time to time.

With that being said, you know it's time for our monthly goals. I did just ok in October with goals. I got more reading in than I expected but didn't quite get to everything I wanted to read.

Read:
Beach Music
Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World
A Rogue by Any Other Name
Please Ignore Vera Dietz

Currently Reading:
The Killing Moon

And didn't even attempt:
Matched
Land of Love and Drowning
Magic Hour

Ehhhh, not my best month. I'll obviously finish Killing Moon this month and I'm sure I'll get around to my other TBR books as wel,l but for November, I'm taking a little different route. I hereby declare November book goals-

 The DVR Goals!!!

What the heck is a DVR goal? Oh, let me tell you! This list consists solely of movies I have had on my DVR (I'm not even going to admit how long they have been on there) that I refuse to watch until I've read the books-- much to my husbands dismay. So I'm finally going to read and then watch. Maybe you'll get lucky and I'll 1) actually review the book but 2) also review the movie. A two-fer as my dad likes to say! I also don't have my hot little hands on all of these books quite yet but I'm going to try and acquire as the month goes on.

  The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings

 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

 Ender's Game (The Ender Quartet #1) by Orson Scott Card

 The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

 The Monuments Me: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel

Pretty good lineup. Wish me luck for my husband's sake :) 

October 2014 Reading Goals

In September, I literally posted twice. Bad blogger! But I have very good reasons for that and I will explain myself now! Number one, I didn't write even one review. I read a lot but never sat down to review which makes it hard to post. Oops. That being said, I guess I didn't even read a lot... I'll get into that a little later with my goals but it has been embarrasingly limited. Now for the real reason that I haven't been active on the blogger community: I QUIT MY JOB!!!!! Don't worry, I had another one lined up. Here's a little background: I'm a child and adolescent therapist and in June I earned my full license as a professional counselor which I have been working on for 2.5 years. Pretty big deal. Then over vacation (August) I was contacted about a job which I interviewed for when I returned from NY and I was offered the job the next day. It's in private practice which is where I've always wanted to be and a huge step for my career so I had to break it to my supervisor (as well as 60+ clients) that I was leaving and I've officially made the switch. I'm in the middle of my second full week at the new job and while there will be a lot to get used to, I'm sure it's the right decision for me. So-- hopefully that explains why I've been MIA. I don't know if y'all were aware but I did a lot of my blogging while at work in between clients and lots of reading during lunch. That free time has been missing for a while now but I'm hoping I'll get back on the blogging horse, starting now!

Now let's get back to bookish things and goals. First up, my progress last month:

Read:
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery
Joyland
Looking For Alaska
The Second Time Around
Hearts in Atlantis
Table for Two (Summer Desserts and Lessons Learned)

Didn't Finish:
Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World
Beach Music

For this month, I'm going to finish those two from above as well as focus on some of my subscription box books (from the one post last month) and fill in with ebooks. So for my reading pleasure I have these:

minus Landline because I already devoured that fab book

A Rogue by Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels #1) By Sarah MacLean
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
The Killing Moon (Dreamblood #1) by N.K. Jemisin
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique

Ebooks:

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

So this month is a little bit of a hodge podge but I hope to get some good reviewing and posts done in addition to some good reading. Here's hoping!

Quarterly/Book Riot Subscription Boxes

I'm sure most of you are familiar with subscription boxes but what you probably don't know is that I'm a sucker for them. I was one of the original Birchbox buyers as well as an early Stitch Fix  lover (ps that is my personal stitch fix link so if you buy from it, I get credit. I highly recommend it ;). ) So of course, when I discovered Quarterly and that Book Riot was a curator, I had to try it. 

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This is what I got for my first month. Three books and a handful of bookish stuff. Super fun! 

Soon after this, Book Riot launched their own subscription box and I jumped ship from Quarterly: Book Riot to Book Riot: The Riot Read. 

I've received two months of the Riot Read so far and it is way more my style! It's $30 a month for a new hardcover and some extra info via Book Riot. Yes, I could easily buy a $30 book on my own but I'm always looking to expanding my reading and a new book delievered to your door each month is awesome! The Riot Read has already impressed me twice and I'm anxiously awaiting this month's. First month, I received my first Rainbow Rowell book, Landline, and I loved it! The second month I received Land and Love of Drowning which is one I've never heard of but am looking forward to. 

Book haul from both services so far

I recommend both of these subscription boxes for different reason. The Quarterly one is more expensive but you get three books (or at least I did) plus lots of bookish stuff. Riot Read is only one book, but it's a hardcover, and if you don't need the bookish stuff, you still get a new read each month for a cheaper price. 

Do you subscribe to any boxes?

Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts/Hiatus

BOOKISH (AND NOT SO BOOKISH) THOUGHTS

Link up with Christine from Bookishly Boisterous

• You may or may not have noticed it's been a little quiet on this part of the world wide web. That's simply because, life happens. Fortunately, it's all good happenings but they leave very little time for book reviewing and blogging because most of the happenings are not so bookish.
• While I have done a lot of reading, I've done zero reviewing and don't have any posts scheduled so I ask that you bear with me for a little while until life calms down (insert mini-hiatus).
• Not intending to be vague but I will fill you all in once things have settled.
• Just this week alone we have the beginning of college football season (my absolutely favorite time of the year, Go Tigers!!!), football viewing party, our fantasy draft, and our one year anniversary. Woooo to all of the above but there will be lots of calories and alcohol consumed which means very little free time or reading time. Not complaining, just explaining.
• Since I know the #boutofbooks ladies hate to hear someone talking about how they "failed at BofB," I'll just allow my lack of bout of books related posts speak for itself...
• I finally got my new social security card with my married name. For an efficient and effective process, I would not recommend getting married in upstate New York. Complicates things, I tell ya!
• I just wanted to check in and update you on where I've been, why it's so quiet, and what to expect in the near future. I'm hoping to get some reviews written soon but I'm not making any promises for lots of action ASAP. I'll post when I can :) 

A little change of heart...

via Pretty In Fiction

In the most unsurprising event of a book bloggers life, I've come over to the dark side. I've started a DNF shelf on goodreads. If you've been around these parts for awhile, you know that I pride myself on reading a huge range of genres and finishing everything I've started. Until recently that is. I'm not sure why this was a source of pride with me but at some point, I felt like every book deserved a chance and I was open to anything so why not? Now that I've matured, (*coughcough*) I've realized that my time is better spent reading the great books than feeling sorry for the crappy ones and I've just about had enough.

I think my change of heart stems from finding random books that I have downloaded on my nook and wondering how they got there and why I am reading them. As I look through these books, I realize that a lot of them are the free books that I got from B&N when I first got my nook and I was downloading willy-nilly. Big mistake, let me tell you! I've stumbled across a handful of horribly written, hard to follow, who-published-this? crap. That is why, I've proudly made my DNF list and I'm sticking to it.

Now, with that being said, I'm still going to read a lot of genres and the majority of the books I pick up. If it makes it onto my TBR list, I assume it was there for a reason and am more than likely going to give it a shot. If it's randomly on my nook, it stands less of a chance. I really liked Julia's idea from The Broke and The Bookish where she decided to give a book 30 pages before determining whether she continues or not. I will probably bump my limit to 50 pages but if it's painful to get through by that point, I'm giving myself permission to call it quits and DNF that sucker. At this point, my DNF list is at 2 (and I need to add one more) but I'm open to adding as I go along and no longer scared of missing out. There are plenty of great books that will hook me 50 pages in!

Do you DNF?!?!?

Be Back Later...

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As of 5 o'clock today, I'm officially on vacation. I'm road tripping with my sister to upstate NY and checking out for a solid week. I can't wait! The only down is that the hubs and puppy don't get to come but I'm going to comfort myself with plenty of gin & tonics and sunshine. #sorrynotsorry. 

While I have some reviews/posts planned, I will not be around this little blog next week. I'm hoping to come back strong with Bout of Books but I may just spend all of my time reading and very little blogging. Who knows, I'm flexible I tell ya. But, due to literally being on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, I will not be active in the blog world for a week or so. I promise I will read your comment and respond when I get back, but until then, HAPPY READING!!!

Bout of Books 11!

It's that time of year again, we're gearing up for Bout of Books! I dropped the ball on the last round but I feel like this round will work perfectly for me. It starts right in the middle of my vacation so I'm hoping to get plenty of good reading done. If you are new to BoB, head over to grab the button and blurb from below and link your post to this page to sign up. Pretty easy!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I will probably set some goals later this week but considering I'm leaving on vacation on Friday (can't wait!!!) and my birthday is tomorrow, I may not get around to it and will have to play it by ear the week of the 18th. I'm not putting strict parameters on myself this go-around (pshhh like I did last time?) because life happens but I would like to get a couple books in as well as a handful of challenges. I'll let you know as I go.

Join me in linking up and participating in Bout of Books 11!

August 2014 Reading List

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It's that time again! This year is flying by and every month I do my goals and can't believe how quickly everything is going. And to tell you the truth, it's not a bad thing. First of all, August is my birthday month (Aug 5, holla holla.) And while I'm not one of those girls who require an entire month of celebrations, I still tend to enjoy the whole month more than others. It's also the month I'm going on vacation which I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to. Sad my husband will not be able to come but excited for him to start his new job. At the end of this month, the hubs and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary as well which blows my mind. Do we officially graduate out of "newlyweds" after year one or does it last until year 5 or something? I don't know but I'm definitely looking forward to eating our cake. 

I'm also ok with this year flying by because my husband and I are kind of in limbo with our future. He is trying to figure out what the next step is and it requires a lot of moving pieces which I'm waiting to fall into place. I would be nice to know what the future may resemble but even if we don't get that lucky, we are getting pretty good at this fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants thing. And that will work until babies. No more flying and lack of plans when babies come. That would kill this mama. Alas, I have completely drifted off into bookish and not so bookish thoughts a la Christine but let's rear it back in to focus on reading goals for this month!

Read:

Little Altars Everywhere

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Gated

The Girl You Left Behind

Horns

Inferno

How I Live Now

Currently Read: 

Helter Skelter: Close to finishing off this book but the 800ish pages slowed me down a little. 

Look at that, I actually achieved my goals! It always feels nice to look back and feel good that I stuck with it and even managed to review a big chunk of them before this post. Go me! Now for August: 

Real Books

Landline 

Got this in my BookRiot monthly box and am super excited to read it. It will be my first Rainbow book and after a couple other bloggers recently reviewed this, I think that if I like this one, I will love her others. Yay!

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Even though I didn't really like this movie, I'm really looking forward to reading this. It also nails one of my challenge prompts so win-win.  

E-Books

 The Interestings

Legend (Legend #1)

 

 Lexicon 

Life After Life

 The Lifeboat

The Light Between Oceans

 Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery 

The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. 

Yes, I'm working through my TBR list alphabetically and I have two books of similar names on this month. Adding these books I realize I know almost nothing about most of them. I add them to my TBR for various reasons and just trust myself that I wouldn't have added them if I didn't have a reason at the time. All of these look vaguely familiar and I'm looking forward to them but not entirely sure of the premises. I also decided to include 10 books this month because I'm going on vacation and hoping to get an extremely large amount of reading done (if I have any say in it.) Woo Hoo for new books!!!! 

Eight Authors I Own The Most Books From

I'm once again linking up with The Broke and The Bookish for TTT. Link up and join along!!!

Eight Authors I Own The Most Books From

1. J.K. Rowling: I bought each of the Harry Potter books as they came out and I even got one early when a friend traveled to London which was a huge deal! I also have all of her newest non-Harry books except for Silkworm (which may not count because of the pen name and whatnot but we all know the truth) which I will acquire soon. 

2. Diana Gabaldon: Outlander is one of my all-time favorite series and while I don't own all of them yet, I will. But they have to be in the same format (with the exception of my signed 20th anniversary edition of Outlander) so I have to wait for them to come out. 

3. Stephen King: I read a lot of King but I'm working my way through his back catalog so I've still got plenty more to read. 

4. Charlaine Harris: I bought the box set of the first 6 or so of the True Blood series. The series has seriously dropped off but I will continue to read/buy them because my OCD takes over and the paperbacks are dirt cheap so I can justify it. 

5. Jodi Picoult:  Who doesn't love a good cry?!?! Own a lot but haven't read half. Working on it. 

6. Nora Roberts: When I need a good, easy, romantic story, Nora is my go-to. Not the best literature that was ever written but Nora is my homegirl. 

7. James Patterson: Once again, if I need a quick, thriller read, James is it. He co-writes a book every month or so so I doubt I'll ever run out. 

8. Nicholas Sparks: James and Nicholas have their formulas for their books that become repetitive if you read too many of them. They have similar themes and characters in a lot of their books and while that annoys me, I can always count on the quality being consistent. 

Ok. I know this isn't an official Top Ten Tuesday since I only came up with 8 but these were the first ones I could definitely think of. I probably own multiples in a series but I haven't read them yet so I didn't count them. A ton of these books are e-books or hand-me-downs but the majority of 1, 2, and 4, do actually sit on my grandfather's bookshelf which I thoroughly enjoy admiring regularly. E-books are convenient but I will never give up my love for real dead-tree books. 

Which authors have you read the most from?

Top Ten Characters I would Want with Me on a Deserted Island

Link up with The Broke and The Bookish

Top Ten Five Characters I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island 

1. Jamie Fraser from Outlander: Yes, I love my husband but he isn't a book character so all bets are off and I would pick this ginger over anyone else. Not to mention his sexy, manliness and his swoon-worthy accent (which is obviously the main reason for my pick. That man can ravish a woman with the best of them!), but he was a Highlander. Dude would know how to survive, keep warm, and pass the time ;-)

2. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter: First of all, she knows everything about everything. Second of all, she can do some serious spells that could keep us alive and fight off angry animals. And last but definitely not least, we know the bitch would bring great books. 

3. Locke Lamora from The Lies of Locke Lamora: Once again, the magic factor plays a part. I'm all about survival, people. But I also like his snark  so our days would be filled with witty banter.

4. Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind: You can say a lot about Scarlett but you have to give her credit for one thing, girl is a survivor. If she could make it through the war with Tara intact, I think she'd help me survive an island. Plus, when we are bored, we can sit in the corner and talk shit like classy southern belles do. 

5. Verity from Code Name Verity: Once again, this is one tough chick. I think she would help me survive anything that came our way and plus, she's an awesome best friend and everyone needs one of those. 

I'm going to stop there because these are the first ones that really jumped out at me and I'm not going to fill up a list with second-tier characters because, who wants to bring second choice people with you to a deserted island?!?! Not this girl. So here are my 5 solid characters!

Top Ten Favorite TV Shows

It's been a really long time since I've participated in TTT hosted by The Broke and The Bookish but this is a topic I can easily participate in. 

Top Ten Favorite TV Shows

Before we begin, I should share that I love my DVR. If I have free time, I'm either reading a book or watching my DVR. I don't believe in live TV and I think commercials are a waste of time. If I'm going to watch TV, I'm going to do it efficiently. That being said, I have a lot of favorite shows I record so here we go (in no particular order)!

 

1. Scandal

Oh, I love me some Olivia Pope. I binge watched this show the week before my wedding during any down time I could grab (while doing a lovely puzzle) and I was hooked. The plots are scandalous and the characters are flawless (you know, other than all the rules they break and people they kill.) I'm hoping the next season lives up to it's predecessors. Can I get a shout out from fellow gladiators?

2. Nashville

I love the lead female characters in this show not to mention the fabulous country music. Even if you don't understand  like country music, I can guarentee you'll find one on here you can relate to. Some of my favorites are Fade Into You and Black Roses.

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3. All of the Real Housewives and all of their spin off shows

I'm a trashy, reality TV junkie!!! And the housewives have my heart. The only one I never got into was Atlanta because I discovered it after a couple of seasons and didn't have all the history which annoyed me. But other than that, give me all things housewives!

4. Southern Charm

Really, Bravo can do no wrong in my eyes but this show was absolutely phenomenal!!! It's set in good ole Charleston, SC and let me tell you, it's a huuuuuge controversy down her and I absolutely love it! Everyone knows somebody on the show or knows somebody who knows somebody on the show. The South has been buzzing since this gem aired and I can't get enough! 

5. The Real World

I may be the only human alive who admits to watches this and I can't get enough. I also love the spin-off The Challenge but I'll just link these two together. This is one of those reality shows that still rings a little realistic because the situations are so ridiculous sometimes. It may be Hills-fake but I still love it. 

6. Orange is the New Black

I haven't read this book yet but it's on my TBR and I'm a little worried it won't compare to this hilarious/touching show. I didn't see this one coming, Netflix but thank you!

7. Keeping up with the Kardashians (how about that throw back pic?)

I told you I love trashy reality TV. Now, I'm not dumb enough to think any part of this is reality but I can't get enough of this crazy fam. That being said, I utterly despise Kim and Kayne and get easily annoyed with Kris. But I'm obsessed with Khloe, Kourtney, Lord Disick, and Rob. They should have a show of just them because they are freaking hilarious together. Love it. Not ashamed. 

Now for some of my favorites that are no longer on TV and break my heart

8.Veronica Mars

Obsessed!!! I'm so sad this show fell off at the end and is no longer on but my life was complete with the movie. I'm in love with Logan Echols (can't explain it, can't even try) and I'm so glad they came back to wrap up him and Veronica's story line. Thanks, Kickstarter!

9. The O.C. 

This was probably the first show that I ever watched religiously. If I missed an episode because my siblings wouldn't change the channel I had a major meltdown. Luckily, in college, watching this show was a weekly event prior to going out so I didn't have to worry about siblings with sub par taste. Love Ryan and Seth!

10. Laguna Beach (The Real O.C.)

This is where my love of reality TV started. What teenage girl didn't want to be friends with LC (and secretly frenemies with Kristen)? And the meta-episode where they were watching The O.C.!??!?! Oh, I couldn't get enough!

There are all my guilty pleasures for all of my readers to see. Are you judging really hard right now? Any you would like to share with me or reminisce on?