Hello, my name is Tessa and I am really bad at keeping up with series. I have talked about this before in a discussion post, but the time has come again to shame myself into actually finishing some series. Unfortunately, this problem even affects my favorite authors. Even though I have loved their past writing, I cannot bring myself to read their other books. Sometimes it is due to the fear of being disappointed (a girl has to have high standards) or sometimes I just get distracted by shiny new books. Regardless, I still love each and every one of these authors, even if I haven't gotten to one (or maybe three) of their books yet. Fun fact: Most of these books can be found in my TTT from 2016. Yes, my procrastination problems span years, not mere weeks.
Like Rome, Crazy for YA was not built in a day. Or even a year. This little baby is going on six years and I still don't think that it is completely built. But, despite the never-ending pursuit of building the perfect blog, the process of writing, posting, reviewing on this blog has changed my life. When I started this blog with my friends, I didn't think it would last beyond middle school, let alone to the 500th post milestone that I am celebrating right now. Writing a single review would take me hours, and they didn't have graphics, SEO, fancy fonts, or even a book summary. What they did have was an obnoxious pink font and a whole lot of love and care. However, despite the obnoxious colors, middle school writing, and complete lack of design, I still haven't deleted any of my old posts. There is literally an archive of my blogging journey (mistakes and all) still available for public criticism. This blog is me. This is me at my best and at my worst. These typos are me. These terrible graphics are me. These bad decisions, lack of knowledge, hurried posts, all led to where I am today. And all I can say is that the view is pretty good from here. That being said, read on if you want to see a timeline of Crazy for YA throughout 500 posts and six years!
The Fourth Talisman #1 400 Pages Published on October 14, 2017 Young Adult, Fantasy
This book was provided to me from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.
Nocturne, a wilderness of eternal night. Solis, a wasteland of endless day. Nazafareen is a Breaker, a mortal who has the rare ability to shatter spell magic—although her power carries a high price. With the memories of her former self erased and nowhere else to turn, she comes to Nocturne hoping to start a new life under the triple moons of the darklands. But when an assassin forces Nazafareen to flee to the sunlit mortal city of Delphi, she finds herself embroiled in a deeper mystery whose origins lie far in the past. Why was the continent sundered into light and dark a thousand years before? And what really happened to the elegant but ruthless creatures who nearly reduced the world to ashes? The new Oracle might know, but she’s outlawed magic and executes anyone caught practicing it. Nazafareen must hide her powers and find a way out of the city—before it’s too late. As the net slowly tightens, something ancient and vengeful begins to stir in the arid death zone called the Kiln. A dashing daeva named Darius is pursuing Nazafareen, but so are a multitude of enemies. War is brewing again. Can she stay alive long enough to stop it? So begins the first installment in an epic new fantasy series from the author of the Fourth Element Trilogy!
Even though I find myself a pretty agreeable person, I do have a nemesis that I hate more than anything else in the world--book slumps. For those of you who are lucky enough to never have suffered through one (please tell me your secrets), book slumps are extended periods of time when reading just isn't fun anymore. There are many causes, such as lack of time or the after-effects of a five star book, but no concrete cure. When I am in a slump, all the books I try to read end up disappointing me. And then, if the case is severe enough, I stop reading altogether. However, in the spirit of mercy for my mortal enemy, the book slump, I forgive its wrongdoings. Grudges apparently aren't good to hold on to, so here are some benefits to being in a book slump.
It is officially the time of year when I start freaking out about finishing all of my yearly goals, including but not limited to my Goodreads reading challenge. I always start out with the best intentions, getting ahead of myself, but it never lasts and I end up with three months to read more than I did in the past six months combined. Thankfully, I am not beneath using cheap tricks to achieve my goals. From now until the end of the year, I will be reading copious amounts of novellas, graphic novels, and short books in order to inflate my reading numbers. I am not proud of it, but I am going to do it anyway. The good news is that if I read more books (even if they are shorter) that means more wonderful reviews like these for you to read. Really, I am doing this all for you.
Most people think that I am crazy, but I love dark chocolate. I would rather eat one bar of dark chocolate than have one thousand white chocolate bars. I guess that there is a metaphor in there about my preference for preferring my sweetness to be mellowed with a little tartness. Just like dark chocolate, August is always bittersweet. It is the end of summer's freedom, but also the beginning of a new school year with promises for new opportunities and amazing people (as well as homework, but that isn't the main point right now). The blogging news this month is also a mixed bag; I have been making a lot of progress but the impending school year is going to stunt some of it.
