tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40097718045544317312024-03-13T15:51:07.291-04:00Crazy for YABooks, cheesy puns, and a little bit of crazy funTessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.comBlogger518125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-32970234073107547032019-03-21T04:00:00.000-04:002019-03-21T04:00:07.944-04:00Inferno by Kat Ross | Blog Tour and Giveaway<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUejfxmoz0PUFVcKYmcY1v9YG3a6sWR6UVZgnI-soXYd3LfzEB4uT7xAN44Ub6LK5U7oPJDgkhu7Wifp0arqJjjV7KATAwLT3eHSlnSRF7GpEWUrddjQPUQ-LnReTrcXO52v9jilqu3GU/s1600/InfernoTourBanner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="851" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUejfxmoz0PUFVcKYmcY1v9YG3a6sWR6UVZgnI-soXYd3LfzEB4uT7xAN44Ub6LK5U7oPJDgkhu7Wifp0arqJjjV7KATAwLT3eHSlnSRF7GpEWUrddjQPUQ-LnReTrcXO52v9jilqu3GU/s640/InfernoTourBanner.png" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Inferno</span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftxSUSerpMDO7VL-XcmYo5uueueK7zowpWbfY2-iaF9jwTfMPBi7szaFa4K-VZB1W6a2C5Q_DwL-QWlw7ueGqm_bH_bXKpEh-5DqW5nmMURrNzMCUkv-2AePDu2FMmlwZVo88FMai-kQ/s1600/Inferno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="297" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftxSUSerpMDO7VL-XcmYo5uueueK7zowpWbfY2-iaF9jwTfMPBi7szaFa4K-VZB1W6a2C5Q_DwL-QWlw7ueGqm_bH_bXKpEh-5DqW5nmMURrNzMCUkv-2AePDu2FMmlwZVo88FMai-kQ/s400/Inferno.jpg" width="250" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Kat Ross</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Fourth Talisman #5</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Released on March 15, 2019</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">354 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">YA, Fantasy</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43161751-inferno?from_search=true" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbtjB33Rijx-roCa82BFdeVwXDY_Xv79xcYLEDrQBv9mkEEgcrePwltE84-ebB4oyrN0Nex8hs3Hc42cGPZ2DGXWHaCV31SHVQ0hK8bLEm2e5-vQHbrJqdyMgeI__7dsFTQmc3hUw7DJg/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the fifth and last volume of the Fourth Talisman series, the worlds of the living and the dead collide in a final confrontation that will leave Nocturne and Solis forever changed….</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Three talismans adrift.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Two mad kings.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One poisonous crown.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As dark forces gather at the Rock of Ariamazes in Samarqand, Nazafareen discovers that there are worse places than the afterlife. The twisted creature pulling the Vatras’ strings is holed up in the deepest level of the Dominion—and only she has the power to follow him there, though at the potential cost of her own soul.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Prophecy claims the three daeva clans must unite to face their greatest enemy again, but two of the talismans have vanished and the third is a child more used to skulking in the shadows than leading an army. Meb the Mouse might be their last hope—if anyone bothers to take her seriously.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And within the confines of the Rock, a dying king makes a pact with the devil, setting in motion a chain of events that could spell doom for friends and foes alike.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">WARNING: This book contains twists and turns, richly deserved comeuppances, shocking revelations, knock-down, drag-out fights, obsessive stalkers, some very nasty monsters…and, of course, true love.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have been with this series for three years, starting all the way back in 2016 with my review of the first book in the first series with Nazafareen and Darius and the mysterious beings called the daevas. In my first review for the series, I was astounded by the depth of the world and its characters, but even my past praise never anticipated the heights the series would reach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nazafareen has had a fiery personality throughout the series, but the action and her characterization peaked in this epic finale of her story. Her change, which includes a complex combination of progress and regression that testifies to the depth of her character, is evident in this finale. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Through the ups and downs, the life and death, bloodshed and love, Narafareen and Darius have been the constants in the series. Other characters, amazing in their own right as well, have entered and exited the story but I love that the common thread of Nazafareen and Darius's relationship is woven throughout the whole narrative. Call me a romantic, but I cannot help but fall for a great love story, especially one that starts as frenemies to lovers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know that I keep going on and on about Nazafareen and Darius, but there really is an entire world contained within this pages. The world of Nocturne and Solis is comparable to the expansive fantasy worlds found in epics by Tamora Pierce, Cassandra Clare, and Sarah J. Maas. With her lyrical prose, expansive world-building, and mastery of various voices, Ross is my new favorite for long-running fantasy epics. However, unlike many sprawling fantasy series, the series has a destination, a story that needs to be told instead of one that is being milked for all it's worth. There is no stretching of the world just for the sake of more books, instead the series feels like a constant exploration of discoveries and adventures in a new world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have hope for more books within this universe as the ending is the perfect balance between wrapping the story up and still keeping the world open for even more characters and adventures. Nazafareen and Darius's story came to a satisfying conclusion, but I am still curious about the world and its endless mysteries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The series may have finished, but my adoration of this world, its magic, and its characters will never die. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are still unconvinced about this amazing series, <a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-midnight-sea-by-kat-ross-fantasy.html" target="_blank">here is my raving review for The Midnight Sea</a> (the first book in the first series) and <a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/a-tapestry-of-culture-and-characters.html" target="_blank">Nocturne</a> (the first book the in Fourth Talisman series).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">About the Author</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiZdI-RJMFNd8mr8Fth6r2u7D-tS8qUfbN2W_awKkS874BAa72iM2ITimsvJJRnF_B1qE2RRwwhji193GqUoHNdTkWBvfPwAG7bNumCmh-wVh-bTpwSR6PT8WdKa4PbokGESeyhH1WhQ/s1600/kat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiZdI-RJMFNd8mr8Fth6r2u7D-tS8qUfbN2W_awKkS874BAa72iM2ITimsvJJRnF_B1qE2RRwwhji193GqUoHNdTkWBvfPwAG7bNumCmh-wVh-bTpwSR6PT8WdKa4PbokGESeyhH1WhQ/s1600/kat.jpg" /></a>Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She's the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day, the Fourth Element fantasy trilogy (The Midnight Sea, Blood of the Prophet, Queen of Chaos), and a new gaslamp mystery series that opens with The Daemoniac and continues with The Thirteenth Gate. She loves myths, monsters and doomsday scenarios. For more information about Kat's books, come visit her at katrossbooks.com.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.katrossbooks.com/index.html" target="_blank">Website</a> * <a href="https://twitter.com/katrossauthor" target="_blank">Twitter</a> * <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kat.ross.3382" target="_blank">Facebook</a> * <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7426942.Kat_Ross" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Enter for a chance to win one of three ebook copies of Nocturne, the first book in The Fourth Talisman series. The giveaway ends on March 28th.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://xpressobooktours.com/2018/12/19/tour-sign-up-inferno-by-kat-ross/" target="_blank">Follow the rest of the blog tour here for more reviews and awesomeness from Kat Ross!</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>What do you think is the hot epic fantasy series? What makes you stay with a series for the long haul? Have you read any books by Kat Ross? If not, what are you waiting for?</b></i></span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5N7pdV1f2vbbI2tOb5uvcx17V1tXGB4Z0Ro_T9vLmBSbQ9kh24-Al_vWnc_szL7NpLSEN6BR3h1_JImU1mZTxXL5RR_BPwHm95Oqlx-6xYO3LlB3sf8e_5BBU-yzJRl6n6PFmihbLztk/s1600/TessaSignature.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1334" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5N7pdV1f2vbbI2tOb5uvcx17V1tXGB4Z0Ro_T9vLmBSbQ9kh24-Al_vWnc_szL7NpLSEN6BR3h1_JImU1mZTxXL5RR_BPwHm95Oqlx-6xYO3LlB3sf8e_5BBU-yzJRl6n6PFmihbLztk/s200/TessaSignature.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-56901295427450936122019-03-08T02:35:00.001-05:002019-03-08T02:35:28.354-05:00Beware the Night by Jessika Fleck | Blog Tour + Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjER74uK4Z8PQwO0cHgOLxIsSBIY6zYnqL7x-6e_ipBpu19HJb1YTEyUOe9QoRbuAQidU3UsnEEmglWC49W30xf0PjCOW48zeDUTbmrTwSLSHt5PjxSC1D8VgucQgnB3JZVvIrLY50Qhxw/s1600/tour+banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1420" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjER74uK4Z8PQwO0cHgOLxIsSBIY6zYnqL7x-6e_ipBpu19HJb1YTEyUOe9QoRbuAQidU3UsnEEmglWC49W30xf0PjCOW48zeDUTbmrTwSLSHt5PjxSC1D8VgucQgnB3JZVvIrLY50Qhxw/s640/tour+banner.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Beware the Night</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8gGQfVY1naUXpkE2iRkN5mR67o0OocaTh9hIK49y2j_TRC-j3QjyCLfGDI3UZuLPJWivVDp-RCeIYsbl3c3pAsvFwR8hShqRd_x7j_dqRC0uZsM-aUKqsxAUf6D0I6Y8VtEccu9xB3Qo/s1600/BtN_final_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="535" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8gGQfVY1naUXpkE2iRkN5mR67o0OocaTh9hIK49y2j_TRC-j3QjyCLfGDI3UZuLPJWivVDp-RCeIYsbl3c3pAsvFwR8hShqRd_x7j_dqRC0uZsM-aUKqsxAUf6D0I6Y8VtEccu9xB3Qo/s320/BtN_final_color.jpg" width="207" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Jessika Fleck</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Released March 12, 2019</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">320 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">YA, Fantasy</span><br />
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<i style="color: #444444; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">This book was provided to me from FFBC Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When her world divides, pitting light against dark, Veda must join a dangerous revolution to save her grandfather and fight against injustice...even if it costs her the boy she loves.<br />On the island of Bellona, life is peaceful--as long as the citizens dutifully worship the Sun, which protects them from all harm. Seventeen-year-old Veda knows that keeping the Sun happy will protect her and her grandfather from the Night, the dangerous people who snatch innocent citizens from their beds under the cover of darkness, never to be seen again. As long as Veda follows the rules, she will be safe.<br />But when Veda's grandfather is offered up as the next sacrificial offering to keep the Sun's favor, she starts to see that the safety she's been promised comes at a dangerous price. Maybe there is more to fear above than there is below.<br />With a mysterious young man, Dorian, at her side, Veda has to figure out if the scary bedtime stories she grew up hearing are real--or dangerous lies.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I was little (and on occasion still to this day) I was terrified of the dark. I won't even publicly admit how long I slept with a nightlight due to the crushing fear of the unknown caused by darkness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While I was dealing with imaginary monsters in closets and the ghosts that were not really haunting my house, in Veda's world the dark is more than just imagined phantoms; the Night has a physical manifestation that is prone to kidnapping, looting, and destroying. You don't see them, but they can see you. <b>Fleck took a fear that everyone had as a child and turned it into a compelling narrative of a world torn apart with one girl stuck in the middle of it all. </b>In a way, I also feel like this novel validated my childhood fears, which is always nice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Despite the eerie subject that was literally the stuff of my childhood nightmares, the book has a lighter side through Veda's sarcastic voice and the sweet romance(s). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Instead of sounding like a seasoned, revolutionary pro, Veda sounds like a teenager. <b>She uses sarcasm, questions herself, and isn't afraid to let her opinion be known.</b> She isn't a rebel who happens to be a teenagers. Her younger voice adds humor in all the right places while not being overwhelmed by the political aspects of the narrative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Her relationship with her grandfather, Poppy, is also to die for. Of course there are no parents in the picture, but Poppy's role as a father figure is not diminished. <b>Their relationship warms the heart while also crushing it into a million pieces, truly a work of art.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">The romance was <b>swoon-worthy</b>, which is impressive considering that it didn't detract from the political intrigue, world-building, or action. There is a love triangle, but <b>the split romance worked in favor of the plot as it reflected a lot of other issues Veda was facing. </b>Basically, there was a good reason for the love triangle and the suitors were different enough for there to be actual competition. (My biggest pet peeve with love triangles is when they are half-developed and you know which one she will end up with the whole time).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, the political intrigue, with warring sides of an island, disparity of wealth, and prejudice, is not encumbered by the lighter side of the story. <b>There is a perfect balance between the revolution and the relationships.</b> I got to see both the mundane and the revolutionary in the story, as mix of intense action and Veda's everyday life <b>that made me invest in this more personal rebellion story.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The only downside was that <b>the plot twist was somewhat predictable.</b> The initial shock was not as shocking as was intended (or perhaps I have just read too many YA dystopian revolution stories to be surprised at this point). But, I still enjoyed how it developed. The rebellion tropes was there, but it was written in a way that added nuances to the YA revolution story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>For fans of: An Ember in the Ashes, Red Queen, and Mirage</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">About the Author</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_Armu1xww8E6sfe8WEAiysgoADVynHgGFyQ037AoKxHIed_6fP-JV7zZ5sAziM8oDuP_Z0wyzE7Q9Z2Wl1RKJ8-hgehqRFFa8mogzKZwMrn5YqX2tSYvF821cHSlyAuHJwjgijfNv24/s1600/author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_Armu1xww8E6sfe8WEAiysgoADVynHgGFyQ037AoKxHIed_6fP-JV7zZ5sAziM8oDuP_Z0wyzE7Q9Z2Wl1RKJ8-hgehqRFFa8mogzKZwMrn5YqX2tSYvF821cHSlyAuHJwjgijfNv24/s1600/author.jpg" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jessika Fleck is an author, unapologetic coffee
drinker, and knitter — she sincerely hopes to one day discover a way to do all
three at once. Until then, she continues collecting vintage typewriters and
hourglasses, dreaming of an Ireland getaway, and convincing her husband they
NEED more kittens. Her YA debut, THE CASTAWAYS (Entangled TEEN), is now
available. Her next YA novel, BEWARE THE NIGHT (Swoon Reads/Macmillan) releases
March 12, 2019. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jessikafleck.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> * <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15452326.Jessika_Fleck" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> * <a href="https://twitter.com/jessikafleck" target="_blank">Twitter</a> * <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JessikaFleck/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> * <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/jessikafleck/" target="_blank">Pinterest </a>* <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jessikafleckwriter/" target="_blank">Instagram</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/02/tour-schedule-beware-night-by-jessika.html" target="_blank">Follow the rest of the tour here!</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>Were you scared of the dark as a kid? (And let's be honest, do you still run up the stairs in the dark for fear of something chasing you from the darkness?) If your childhood fear was written into a book, what would it be about? Are you a fan of the revolution trope in YA? </i></b></span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZtsx-P5MJaYP3hWfObnTEDUzOgwzQV_I19lwbfq6Twm0qNKPECsOu8tLQJykgE9Kl0TJvUG0VAuiUZ22Fv-7NKfTgJNWEgf6w7iDkeSGwBX-vn2y4l0MoejIkR2GTkQ1VrXPe9v3RKQ/s1600/TessaSignature.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1334" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZtsx-P5MJaYP3hWfObnTEDUzOgwzQV_I19lwbfq6Twm0qNKPECsOu8tLQJykgE9Kl0TJvUG0VAuiUZ22Fv-7NKfTgJNWEgf6w7iDkeSGwBX-vn2y4l0MoejIkR2GTkQ1VrXPe9v3RKQ/s200/TessaSignature.png" width="200" /></a></div>
Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-45863154244639751042019-03-04T19:12:00.002-05:002019-03-05T18:42:14.484-05:00The Murderous Nature of Water | Whispers from the Depths by C. W. Briar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjV32WOsg6M-RfeDV3p3lcmyD4td6z880jkpj-6Mu7czI-eZDFPDeU5Tx73_VhsTEOckG3DnGzlEx2VI8aBvCv5NUmBitxcC8n7VtIJNrqdZBBzBZdMh84Ckz0vH6kigt7vwDagtrIn-w/s1600/Whispers+from+the+Depths+tour+banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="850" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjV32WOsg6M-RfeDV3p3lcmyD4td6z880jkpj-6Mu7czI-eZDFPDeU5Tx73_VhsTEOckG3DnGzlEx2VI8aBvCv5NUmBitxcC8n7VtIJNrqdZBBzBZdMh84Ckz0vH6kigt7vwDagtrIn-w/s640/Whispers+from+the+Depths+tour+banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Whispers from the Depths</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwkLRRaFaW1hrwC2i98b024eFPSJZspsB8xk0Y6FghY1eOK-4s6K2dqWGu-qvggqmZPAF09jvaDt4-UhCKXpivFzMhXG5Y8evnjMM1unqWSgrptscJx2YcNVwCLWzNUtSPniMaeNPD5Qs/s1600/Whispers-from-the-Depths-600x927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwkLRRaFaW1hrwC2i98b024eFPSJZspsB8xk0Y6FghY1eOK-4s6K2dqWGu-qvggqmZPAF09jvaDt4-UhCKXpivFzMhXG5Y8evnjMM1unqWSgrptscJx2YcNVwCLWzNUtSPniMaeNPD5Qs/s400/Whispers-from-the-Depths-600x927.jpg" width="258" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By C. W. Briar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Released on February 19, 2019</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">YA Dark Fantasy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trigger Warning: Sexual harassment, gory violence, drowning, and slavery</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40800052-whispers-from-the-depths" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7frUG12BWa99ATyd_mbGK0-MxFw5TNzhwVaPky2KvoY2IG-opQR5Tq6EQlZU7TaUmTdmpw5PSZrfK6TDOuiUQMFHI4n7EwOpwcYSAO8qAXXiGGaFxib96nxVXhyphenhyphenB9lepNmxA_P2J9Ds/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<i style="color: #444444; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">This book was provided to me from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Joyful and blessed are Voice-bearers, for the Heavens have set them apart.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As Whisperers gifted with the Voice, Betka and her people are enslaved. Only they can control the dangerous spirits that haunt the waters, but they are forced to serve under cruel taskmasters. Betka has little hope of freedom from her service or her own bitterness.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They toil for the goodness of others.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A powerful water spirit terrorizes the castle where Betka’s sister is serving. Betka is assigned to the crew sailing to face the foe, and she fears for the only family she has left.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rage is found nowhere in them.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the beleaguered, flooded castle, a new threat awaits—a magic more powerful and horrifying than anything they have ever seen. Loyalties will be tested, and enemies will become desperate allies.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Betka is their only hope of escape—if she can subdue the wrath that endangers them all.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She who wields the waters for revenge drowns herself tenfold.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://uncommonuniverses.com/books/whispers-from-the-depths/" target="_blank">Website</a> * <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Depths-C-W-Briar-ebook/dp/B07LC2VTLM/" target="_blank">Amazon </a>* <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/whispers-from-the-depths-c-w-briar/1130009932" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a> * <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1446792349" target="_blank">Apple</a> * <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/whispers-from-the-depths-1" target="_blank">Kobo</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Review</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some books start out with a bang and others have more humble starts. Whispers from the Depths started as the title suggests, subtle murmurs that <b>crescendoed into an action-packed fight against nature itself. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The magical system is <b>a unique twist on the elemental trope</b>. Instead of the standard four elements (think Avatar the Last Airbender) the only water can be manipulated by those gifted with the Voice. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The only catch is that the water spirits can also control the water, and not always for the better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The magical system is distinct from both the trope of water creatures, like sirens and mermaids, while also differentiating itself from the standard elemental system. The concept of only controlling one element may sound boring, but<b> the focus on water made for extremely creative uses of the power.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Betka's journey is one of both fear, family, and self-discovery. Her character development raises like the waves she learns to control. The journey starts as a way to reunite with her sister and turns into much more along the way (but the heart-warming theme of family stays strong throughout the novel too).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, the novel is not just Betka's journey, but quest for many different characters. The flashbacks from various people really helped flesh out their characters, for both the heroes and the villains. The culture and the social struggle came alive through the interwoven narratives. <b>The story incorporates perspectives from different generations, social classes, and statuses to create a full-bodied view of the culture, including its flaws. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There were times was <b>the plot was a little slow and harder to follow</b> due to some magical jargon and complications, but the overall effect of the fantasy elements was impressive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I loved the <b>gruesome, brutal details.</b> Some may doubt that humble water can cause any damage, but I think I would rather face a wall of fire than the fierce water personified throughout the story. Some parts of the novel were so magical and contemplative, which was gloriously interrupted by intense periods of action with no bit of gore forgotten in the description. Believe me, there are more ways to die from water than merely drowning. <b>If you are morbidly curious about the plentiful ways to perish from H2O, then this is the book for you</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If, like a more normal person, you aren't interested in the morbid side of the sea, then<i> <b>Whispers from the Depths</b></i><b> also offers a unique twist on the elemental story with wholesome family feels and spiritual explorations that beautifully contrast with the story's violent side.</b> Key moments of humor also lighten the plot when it seems like everything is sinking. There may have been slow patches, but Whispers from the Depths ultimately found its Voice along the way, helped by the complexity of it characters and world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">About the Author</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi0UXkfuzIAbW6zXPFXvGobCplCik311hx4ziKrmCJuSV0tXc3gpOSaOuj2v6ps5XOnv0JyazJE-43vryR2V0CvtXMWX4r9XnmBZ9et5jEy_NAlcTOP5wXfT-GBdD9-pBGz_qYjkNnKY/s1600/cwbriarweb-084.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="266" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwi0UXkfuzIAbW6zXPFXvGobCplCik311hx4ziKrmCJuSV0tXc3gpOSaOuj2v6ps5XOnv0JyazJE-43vryR2V0CvtXMWX4r9XnmBZ9et5jEy_NAlcTOP5wXfT-GBdD9-pBGz_qYjkNnKY/s200/cwbriarweb-084.png" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">C. W. Briar writes fantasy that’s dark but hopeful, filled with wonder and humor along with suspense and creepiness. His favorite stories are the ones that make him both smile and perch on the edge of his seat. By day, he works as a systems engineer, testing or even riding on trains, airplanes, and helicopters. At night, when not writing, he prepares fancy dinners and shows off his awesome corgis. He’s a graduate of Binghamton University and lives in Upstate NY with his wife, three kids, and secret stashes of chocolate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.cwbriar.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> * <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15506887.C_W_Briar" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> * <a href="https://twitter.com/CW_Briar" target="_blank">Twitter</a> * <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CWBriar" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9e540ef9529/" target="_blank">Enter for a chance to win</a> a hardcover copy of Whispers from the Depths and a necklace inspired by the beautiful book cover!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This tour was Organized by <a href="http://yaboundbooktours.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">YA Bound Book Tours</a>. You can <a href="https://yaboundbooktours.blogspot.com/2019/01/blog-tour-sign-up-whispers-from-depths.html" target="_blank">follow the rest of the tour here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Have you ever read a book that only focused on one element? Which element do you think is the most deadly? What is your favorite twist on the elemental trope? </b></i></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-66467074552989181032019-01-25T11:55:00.000-05:002019-01-25T11:55:41.758-05:00Scottish Steampunk Revives Faery Lore | The Falconer by Elizabeth May<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384367442l/15791085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="The Falconer (The Falconer, #1)" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384367442l/15791085.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Falconer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Elizabeth May</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(The Falconer #1)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Released on May 6th, 2014</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Young Adult, Fantasy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">378 Pages</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15791085-the-falconer?from_search=true" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmxqxNDPHETHFm11wB-6zfDa6jJN5neKq7ifGyOgn_35gkniSr32dRkT1UfjumPAbfROlChi_P6yBidicdzqy_i54LcvJI8YZTpB5BI_1_S62sUs0uzV-h2J-y7q4dFihr7bekaOiR2Z4/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>She's a stunner.</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>She's a liar.</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But Aileana only <i>looks</i> the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the <i>sìthíchean</i>—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>She's a murderer.</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>She's a Falconer.</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller combines romance and action, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A steampunk story of fae lore set in Scotland sounds spectacular--a promise of action, adventure, and a new twist on the faerie legend. Unfortunately, only half of the synopsis was fulfilled. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Admittedly, there was a fair amount of action. Aileana is a strong, independent female character who, at least for the first half of the novel, doesn't need a man.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Aileana was often the star of the fight, using ingenuity and her inventions to get her out of a tough spot. I especially the female representation in engineering and science, as well as on the battlefield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My disappointment with the novel comes from Kiaran, Aileana's fae mentor and punching buddy. <b>He personifies mystery and intrigue, but his character never had the fulfilling payoff I wanted. </b>He kept introducing mysteries without any answers, with Aileana eating happily out of his hand. <b>Her status as an independent fighter was diminished by her reliance and blind faith</b> in this character that we know so little about. It also made me less sympathetic to the romance in the novel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On the topic of mystery, Aileana's powers as a Falconer (despite that role literally being the title) were inconclusive. Partially due to Kiaran's evasiveness and the novel's overall approach of mysterious suspense, <b>I am not even sure what a Falconer is. At this point, the omission of information is not suspenseful, just confusing.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Despite the lack of depth with Ailean's powers, <b>I loved the focus on Aileana's internal struggle</b> between fulfilling her personal desires, her societal duties, and her responsibilities as a Falconer (even though those were left extremely vague). She had a lot on her plate; revenge for her mother's death, all while navigating (with various degrees of success) the proper social realm of the 19th century.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even though I didn't particularly buy the romance, I will give it credit for <b>the nice resolution to a love triangle.</b> There was a brief, and very lopsided, love triangle that played well into her concerns about society. Being the love-triangle skeptic that I am, I was worried when the trope was introduced. However, the resolution was <b>largely angst-free</b> without overwhelming the plot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As for the other unfulfilled promise, the steampunk aesthetic was not as prominent as I would have liked. Aileana's engineering capabilities were highlighted, <b>but the setting was more reminiscent of historical fiction rather than an alternate universe of machinery and technology that steampunk offers.</b> There was a clockwork tea kettle and her flying machine, but the steampunk vibe didn't spread outside of Aileana's own room.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I liked the combination of fae lore and steampunk, even if I wish the aesthetic was more emphasized throughout the setting. The romance left me with mixed feelings--the love triangle was not terrible but I was not convinced by Aileana's relationship at the end of the novel. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are a die-hard fae fan who thinks you have read every iteration of the lore, then The Falconer will challenge what you know about faeries. You might not understand it all, but the setting in Scotland provides a new face to the lore.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are you tired of the faery trend yet? Does a romance have the potential to change how you see the main character? Are you a fellow skeptic of love triangles?</span></b></i></blockquote>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></i>Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-6236679267069196612019-01-14T17:19:00.003-05:002019-01-14T17:19:34.085-05:00Prioritizing Blogger Safety | Why Writing Under a Pen Name is Perfectly Fine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From the first time I logged into a computer, I have been lectured about online safety. Parents, teachers, neighbors, signs in hallways, and TV commercials have all warned me about the dangers of the Internet, especially meeting strangers and giving them my information.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am not saying that online friends are sketchy or not trustworthy, but the Internet has a lot of types of people and not all of them have your best interests at heart. For the most part, the book community has each other's backs and I have felt safe sharing about my personal life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, <b>Tessa is not my real name.</b> It's a pen name that my 8th grade self created in order to protect myself on the Internet (and so that I didn't get lectured again from my mom). I have always blogged under a pen name and I don't plan on changing that in the near future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have always been very open about my use of a pen name, but recently, <b>a certain author has questioned the trustworthiness of bloggers who use a pseudonym.</b> This event in the book blogging world, involving a case of stalking and invasion of privacy, is the reason that I chose to use a pen name so long ago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Instead of getting into a debate about the specifics of the event, I would like to give a list of reasons why it is perfectly acceptable for bloggers to use a pen name.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">1. Safety for the Blogger</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Especially for those who start blogging at a young age, safety is a concern. <b>The best way to protect your personal information is to not give it out in the first place.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have hopes that my pen name will protect me from something as simple as not receiving unprovoked emails to my personal account to larger issues such as an angry author showing up on my doorstep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This safety also extends to <b>my own peace of mind </b>when posting on the Internet. Under a pen name, I have the assurance that my information isn't out in the world for anyone to take advantage of.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">2. My Name Does not Affect my Opinions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's true that an online persona can become a mask; people have the opportunity to hide in the invisibility to cyberspace to safely launch hateful comments. I am not debating the existence of cyberbullying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, I do believe that <b>anonymity can be used for good</b>. It can be a protector of good instead of just hiding the bad guys of the Internet. My pen name is supposed to protect me so that I can write a negative (albeit respectful) review without fearing retribution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My opinions don't sudden change when I sign off a blog post as Tessa. Tessa's opinions are my opinions, regardless of whether or not I am posting publicly on the Internet or having a personal debate with real-life friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">3. Branding</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In one of the most ironic </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">twists of fate,<b> pen names are often used in the author community. Bloggers are not the only ones who used them, in fact, we didn't even invent them.</b> Authors, like J. K. Rowling and Nora Roberts, have been using pen names for the sake of branding for years and years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In order to protect the fact that she was a female author, and to avoid the bias that came with gender, Rowling used her initials to leave her authorship unknown. Later on, she would brand herself as Robert Galbraith to write her mystery novels in the hopes to protect her new series from comparison to her other works. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nora Roberts did the same thing when she adopted the name J. D. Roberts for her mystery/thriller series. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I mean, Dr. Seuss wasn't even a real doctor yet his ability to write books was never questioned. He never got his PhD, but that doesn't make his books any less enjoyable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">4. The Established History of Pen Names and Stage Names</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pen names aren't a new thing. <b>They are even used in multiple industries, such as the stage name in the music world.</b> No one questions Marshmello's authority on music just because he doesn't want to show his face. Sia is a household name, but no one has ever seen her face. Despite this anonymity, they are both allowed to create and are applauded for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">5. The Power of a Name</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Changing my name, especially to emulate on of my favorite book characters at the time, helped me become a more confident blogger. Every time I signed off as Tessa, I felt like I was contributing to the literary world. Even though I borrowed the name, I made it my own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>After blogging under this name for over six years, my pen name has become a part of both me and my blog.</b> This name has become a symbol of my role in this community and I don't want it to be diminished just because it isn't my real name.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The fact is that no blogger, pen name or not, deserves to have their privacy violated. This is just the path I have chosen to try and protect myself; there are other methods to go about it as well. In the end, this isn't just about pen names and those who write under a pseudonym. Every blogger has opinions worth sharing. Every blogger has a powerful name that doesn't deserve to be attacked. Every blogger deserves to feel safe on the Internet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>How do you feel about bloggers who use pen names? How do you protect yourself as a blogger? Is safety a concern for you on the Internet?</b></i></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-24849055271460699642019-01-09T17:27:00.002-05:002019-01-09T17:38:22.644-05:00What Even Happened this Year? | A Wrap-Up of 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have never had the best grasp on time. I can read for three hours, yet it will only feel like a second has passed. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I can nap for five hours, but when I wake up it feels like I only slept for minutes. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I can attempt to do homework for half an hour but it will feel like eons have passed. I am always the person that asks what day it is. I will be dating everything in 2018 for at least three months. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, when 2019 rolled around I couldn't believe it. There is something about the new year that seems to defy both time and space; things feel so much different yet so much the same.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For that reason, I have shifted away from New Year's Resolutions and vowing to be a completely different person whenever the calendar changed to January 1st. Instead of focusing on huge yearly changes, I want to focus on daily ways to be a better person. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That philosophical rant aside, here are my reflections from 2018 and my low-pressure goals for 2019.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/12/your-best-posts-of-2018-master-list-of.html" target="_blank">Bloggers' Favorite Posts of 2018</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/12/your-best-posts-of-2018-master-list-of.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdxGbTouG5hr3SmPgpu7fPvzD7QCUIWVNavfpyJIRIMjDRo89Ky1JbkF7Yzh1O4aLH8eraOJ7uLtgE6Zpaj7Uv03rgdXMDdDJvtmqipfuxPK-vFQPUsJUi_1F1LEAdgfH7lJGjzvSEa0/s400/The+Best+Posts+of+2018.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Since I know that sometimes our favorite posts don't get the most love, I went to Twitter to ask book bloggers what posts of 2018 they were the most proud of. What resulted was a massive master list of posts, spanning a variety of blogs and topics, that bloggers wished got more love in the year. Warning: This post may make you fall into a black hole of blog hopping!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/i-cant-believe-that-i-am-writing-this.html" target="_blank">The Chronicle of Crazy for YA</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/i-cant-believe-that-i-am-writing-this.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTLtCz2n-ypBoWHB1FEl1ly52yrdgWCnzplubxKeKPtRgQIh9I5qjQNhR0AGQeerN1tcsND8CU0PS8v0_1ncto6U9ytfOYIT4ksJzhPfunGa5LMKl5IYvs4Oxff-LZP5MiAOW8nUp94tw/s400/Copy+of+BacktoSchoolTTT.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I (finally) wrote my 500th post this year and I decided to celebrate with a timeline of accomplishments (and blunders) of Crazy for YA's lifetime. Looking back over the past six or so years gave me a poignant feeling of nostalgia and even a few tears. I also hosted my first giveaway (which is now closed), but I am hoping to host another one soon!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-pros-of-being-in-book-slump.html" target="_blank">The Pros of Being in a Book Slump</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-pros-of-being-in-book-slump.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="735" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjlLtRbSfEYcAs-b9GxmFVplD3uHafKsY0kCjh3lDZGCob1KVPBu4sPD3Nb5qVoxBqVB5RX9jR0-QBDTWa1jrlsBSQN1hpX5JS-Z9M0D2VbVxaYuZZSLetoDYbXo5MMJC5aC5Feutnrs/s400/Pinterest_BookSlump.png" width="266" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Plain and simple: I just loved writing this post. I got to be a little bit sarcastic and (hopefully) witty with my twist on the book slump. It may seem like a regular list post, but my voice got to shine through.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-difficulty-of-seeing-space-without.html" target="_blank">Review of The Raging Ones by Krista and Becca Ritchie</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-difficulty-of-seeing-space-without.html" target="_blank"><img alt="The Raging Ones (The Raging Ones, #1)" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532351186l/30301147.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To be completely honest, I struggle to write a lot of reviews. Anything in the middle of the road is difficult for me to describe without using the word "meh" an inappropriate amount of times. However, I am quite proud of this review, and not only for the creative (just let me be self-centered for one second) metaphor that I intertwined in the review. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This review was one of the first times that I tackled a book with problematic representation. I have read books with less than stellar rep, but I had never been articulate or brave enough to post the review on my blog before. But, as I have been reading more and more diverse books, I have also been trying to keep a close eye on the quality of representation that is incorporated, not only the amount of it. I will admit that I am late to the game with this achievement, but it was only a starting point, a stepping stone to growth for me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-fault-in-our-stars-vs-turtles-all.html" target="_blank">A Book Battle of Two Favorite Books from a Favorite Author</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-fault-in-our-stars-vs-turtles-all.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNTq98OYMz0nNIeUfnBdRoX2gS9KJilIloBHajzgob8SCFGfDU3jKbw2Ddk0wFnpEqfTEDFbAdSZtSID_YehFCc4pWV7u9FWeTGRpLSwuMZ7hWK5D-I1y892tWVSbGV4PBELu1zGMxL8/s400/The+Fault+in+Our+StarsNEw.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">John Green is one of my favorite authors, but even I have to admit that some of his novels seem similar. The female love interests share a similar vibe and the main characters can be hard to differentiate. That being said, I love Green's writing style and his method of tackling larger issues, such as mental health in Turtles All the Way Down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, I was curious to see how TFIOS and TATWD would compare to each other when directly compared and contrasted in my semi-regular Book Battles feature. I was not disappointed with the strength of the match and I loved the discussions in the comments as well!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/02/happy-galentines-day-top-ten-tuesday.html" target="_blank">Galentine's Day Favorite Heroines</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/02/happy-galentines-day-top-ten-tuesday.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggq-OeKaDm_1hY4N1Qi4yZ6fnOAI9UVBP9swICyCW4MAjC3S1veBwuefREmLPNWkjtgXXMPupJ564Ib73T04pmBSkctI6j6ZsKvfU3RnGUFoEgmzZWq-G5Phq-tXD_iv8CU3Z-SsVebGc/s400/Top+Ten+Tuesday+%25282%2529.png" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Valentine's Day has never been my favorite holiday (Christmas for the win) but 2018's celebration was more bearable with my twist on the holiday. In the true Leslie Knope spirit, I celebrated Galentine's Day (a time to recognize the amazing, wonderful, and powerful women in your life) instead of the romantic nonsense. So, in light of my new focus for the holiday, I wrote a list of my favorite literary heroines to show camaraderie with my fellow kickbutt females.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Blogging Achievements</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Breaking 100,000 Total Views</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the back of my mind, I know that stats don't matter, numbers shouldn't rule my blogging life, and that math is not my friend. Regardless of my hostility toward numbers, I still value statistical blogging goals. This year, my goal was to surpass 100,000 views on my blog, and I succeeded! Even though I didn't post as frequently as I wanted, I must have upped my social media game or something to achieve this milestone. I know that numbers aren't everything, but I am still proud of reaching that formerly elusive number.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. Reading More Books than Last Yea</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">r</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In 2017 I only read 30 books. My bare minimum goal was to read more than 30 books, but I set my Goodreads goal to 50 (for fun and stress, obviously). So, thanks to a selection of graphic novels and novellas at the end of the year, I was able to complete my Goodreads challenge and fulfill my reading goals!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Hitting 500 Followers on Twitter</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My favorite social media platform is Twitter. In fact, it is the only one that I consistently update/check for my blog. I love the conversations on Twitter and the ability to foster relationships with other bloggers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>4. Starting a Newsletter through Feedburner</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Until this year, I didn't have an option to have updates via email subscription. However, I have entered the year of 2018 and realized that I needed a newsletter. Currently, it's a bare bones newsletter that sends an email with every new post. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you want to get email updates on the happenings here at Crazy for YA, click here!</span><br />
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<b><a href="https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=blogspot/HaaBiE&loc=en_US"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Subscribe to Crazy for YA by Email</span></a>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>5. Maximizing World Dominion (through guest posts)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This year, I even wrote my first guest posts. Yes, my dominion is reaching beyond this humble little blog with <a href="https://thebookbratz.blogspot.com/2018/04/guest-review-wild-beauty-by-anna-marie.html" target="_blank">my guest review of Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie Lemore on The Book Bratz</a> and <a href="https://reading-is-dreaming-with-open-eyes.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-synopsis-tessa.html" target="_blank">my guest discussion about the seven deadly sins of a synopsis at The Regal Critiques. </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">What Did I Read?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html" target="_blank">My Top Books of 2018</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_mTlNuLDOyLIXQOKAwj9jQavR9_cqM_TGC5SjFqhqhZYrquYAgUzR0UB9p_vUalFz3KPZVNtN9I-1AjS_yKGvKe47zU9DoX1RAnUNPsn9D9w78t0NaK0cyoTAc4wWQgbSA9jd3z3MzYI/s1600/Top+10+Books+Of+2018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_mTlNuLDOyLIXQOKAwj9jQavR9_cqM_TGC5SjFqhqhZYrquYAgUzR0UB9p_vUalFz3KPZVNtN9I-1AjS_yKGvKe47zU9DoX1RAnUNPsn9D9w78t0NaK0cyoTAc4wWQgbSA9jd3z3MzYI/s400/Top+10+Books+Of+2018.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a Snapshot</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmK-HAeX3FttcR-v6HYz0x9M896r8wP4OCkHkqmtnEsDz-D5NY_2tvB17JqOKF3jmv63tS9-crLxswygVjR1rOl2WCykZP-PKsmqDcm9u6fLTG6b17_avDBEhPd5xCZuhMa79BDmzYt9g/s1600/Ratings.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmK-HAeX3FttcR-v6HYz0x9M896r8wP4OCkHkqmtnEsDz-D5NY_2tvB17JqOKF3jmv63tS9-crLxswygVjR1rOl2WCykZP-PKsmqDcm9u6fLTG6b17_avDBEhPd5xCZuhMa79BDmzYt9g/s640/Ratings.png" width="426" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. I completed my Goodreads goal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. Fantasy is still my most-read genre, but I read more magical realism that I thought. (Also, the classics were mostly required reading for school).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. It was a scarce year for five-star books and most novels fell into the enjoyed-but-was-only-okay category of three stars. But, I can't complain too much since there were no 1 star books this year!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Goals for 2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Discussion Post Challenge</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I attempted this challenge, hosted by It Starts at Midnight and Feed Your Fiction Addiction, way back in 2014, and it really encouraged me to venture outside my comfort zones of reviews. Now, I have been doing a lot of reviews and memes, so I am hoping to get back into writing discussion posts. <a href="https://itstartsatmidnight.com/2018/12/2019-discussion-challenge-sign-up/" target="_blank">The sign-up for the challenge is still open (and will stay open until the end of the year), so you can still participate too!</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> There are monthly giveaways and link-ups to promote the wonderful discussions that you write, as well as to interact with other bloggers!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My goal is to write 12 discussion posts (one a month, basically) to earn the title of Creative Conversationalist!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Post more than I did in 2018</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This year, I managed to post more than I did in 2017. In fact, I almost tripled the number of posts I wrote last year but increasing from 19 to 51. I wanted to write at least 52 in 2018, but I fell a teeny, tiny bit short. However, writing 30+ more posts than last year is still a great achievement in my book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, my goal for 2019 is just to keep making progress. I want to post more than I did in 2018, so my goal is 52 posts. Again, it's all about progress and doing more than I did last year, even if that only means one post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Read 51 books</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My Goodreads reading challenge for the past couple of years has remained at a steady 50 books. Some years I have managed to complete it, but others did not go as well. However, I managed to hit 50 books in 2018 and I think it is time for a little bit of a challenge. So, I set my goal for 51 books in 2018 with the caveat that can't read 5 books on New Year's Eve to catch up from a year of slacking (desperate times call for desperate measures).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Did you accomplish your reading goals this year? What blogging/reading/life goals have you set for yourself in 2019? Do you have any tips for me to complete these goals with minimal procrastination?</i></b></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-48596044062556316252019-01-01T11:58:00.001-05:002019-01-01T11:58:42.746-05:00The Best Books I Read in 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDKojveVkOduODe59iymQ36v8h1BwVi1xyNjVWbSzreKpBVB5wjbtYdD97-4zMaljlXNCEZakvey_OemjWsEZxO2zLjMT2-XrA4nZVIqVvE8Qj34kZPVTr7_Q8sFEw0kKgjNNVU10gsE/s1600/Top+10+Books+Of+2018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDKojveVkOduODe59iymQ36v8h1BwVi1xyNjVWbSzreKpBVB5wjbtYdD97-4zMaljlXNCEZakvey_OemjWsEZxO2zLjMT2-XrA4nZVIqVvE8Qj34kZPVTr7_Q8sFEw0kKgjNNVU10gsE/s640/Top+10+Books+Of+2018.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know that I say this every year, but 2018 was a difficult year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I only had four five-star books. <b>In fact, a majority of the books I read were three stars or below</b>. I am not sure if I was just heard to impress this year or if I was just extremely unlucky with my choice of TBR. Even though there is nothing wrong with three star books (for me the rating means that I liked the book without loving it), not many stories managed to WOW me this year. In the end of the year, when I finally had time to read, I hit a streak of three-star reads that wasn't necessarily a slump, but did disappoint me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The stats are not on my side, but that is where the complaining ends. <b>My reading journey this year taught me that not every book will earn five stars, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't worth reading. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Regardless of the ratings, I still managed to find books that I love and will scream about for the next year(s) to come. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Out of the 50 books I read this year</b> (which accomplished my Goodreads Challenge!) I still managed to have some favorites.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since I loved all of these books so much, I have already written posts about most of them. Instead of trying to rearticulate my ramblings, I have included the links to my original posts if you want to learn more about them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are my top 10 books of 2018!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">10. The graphic novels that motivated me to finish my reading challenge</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lumberjanes (Volumes 1-4) by Noelle Stevenson</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">9. The book (and movie) that revived my love for romantic contemporaries</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">(To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I read both books this year, but when push comes to shove I have to pick PSISLY.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">8. The very popular novella I finally fell in love with</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/nothing-like-novellas-mini-reviews-of.html" target="_blank">(You can read my raving mini-review here).</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">7. The underrated favorite</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39gxkd6JN2Nd4b3R92Kx1ZfJ-PTLAmQx3PlLMKz5PXPz4aE4tonBXvaXFPQTZwiBjFRToxhfJX8yygzBffgSKWQjqOR_E4pLaYSb5tny-2XaFRzC23MZt7jwCz17qhzXeNcZK6YSqQO8/s1600/nocturne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="298" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39gxkd6JN2Nd4b3R92Kx1ZfJ-PTLAmQx3PlLMKz5PXPz4aE4tonBXvaXFPQTZwiBjFRToxhfJX8yygzBffgSKWQjqOR_E4pLaYSb5tny-2XaFRzC23MZt7jwCz17qhzXeNcZK6YSqQO8/s400/nocturne.jpg" width="250" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nocturne by Kat Ross</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Fourth Talisman #1 (a continuation of her earlier The Fourth Element series)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/a-tapestry-of-culture-and-characters.html" target="_blank">(You can read my raving review here.)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">6. Another popular book past its peak that I eventually loved</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrGB_FFlrmYoHkXqxRrZRQhu2J_NR4fQGUVcQ8ISXuw72Y6ykFtGL0T_EjfP7G-LOEUpNdc_nDMP0deIj_iiaYdQ4k6VzeqhAfDb0TY9HFQfAwDbzYGMDoA8cr3aUpIPGcqnbp88Rm6U0/s1600/nightcircus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrGB_FFlrmYoHkXqxRrZRQhu2J_NR4fQGUVcQ8ISXuw72Y6ykFtGL0T_EjfP7G-LOEUpNdc_nDMP0deIj_iiaYdQ4k6VzeqhAfDb0TY9HFQfAwDbzYGMDoA8cr3aUpIPGcqnbp88Rm6U0/s400/nightcircus.jpg" width="262" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern</span></div>
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<a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-night-circus-vs-crowns-game-book.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(You can read my Book Battle comparison between The Night Circus and The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye here.)</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">5. More proof that I love John Green</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2dyhwJB6qAk9vMDgFgZFuzZKfAINqbD1y7eitnrCckGveR3SrTOCuIPgF4omX-J7VcIB1spsOrBDBG6pN-XnUVanaFWwZAPOLDShzKzBB8LwcJHgDTFFo6WNZUnUt3XRxM9y9TCgLjOA/s1600/tatwd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2dyhwJB6qAk9vMDgFgZFuzZKfAINqbD1y7eitnrCckGveR3SrTOCuIPgF4omX-J7VcIB1spsOrBDBG6pN-XnUVanaFWwZAPOLDShzKzBB8LwcJHgDTFFo6WNZUnUt3XRxM9y9TCgLjOA/s400/tatwd.jpg" width="265" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Turtles All the Way Down by John Green</span></div>
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<a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-fault-in-our-stars-vs-turtles-all.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(You can read my Book Battle comparison between Turtles All the Way Down and The Fault in Our Stars here.)</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">4. The retelling that deserves more hype in the new year</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf</span></div>
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<a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/06/bring-me-their-hearts-blog-tour-and.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(You can read my raving review here).</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">3. The best fantasy standalone I have ever read</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgURUZfCTMNKtPSYuQZuxnUPs3Q17Jl3sqBPEmJe9vtA4GeX0i0Yx0SbnsH_gN-1NV4HkOWDlFYRR40LnC18IGcopSgWAm6sEEDEAZ79Fk03E1OPH37bYcJQYYiYhDTxExA7AFc_Z44dpU/s1600/tokillakingdom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgURUZfCTMNKtPSYuQZuxnUPs3Q17Jl3sqBPEmJe9vtA4GeX0i0Yx0SbnsH_gN-1NV4HkOWDlFYRR40LnC18IGcopSgWAm6sEEDEAZ79Fk03E1OPH37bYcJQYYiYhDTxExA7AFc_Z44dpU/s400/tokillakingdom.jpg" width="263" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">2. The sci-fi classic I cannot recommend enough</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-beauty-of-ridiculousness-takeaways.html" target="_blank">(You can see my raving review here.)</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">1. The debut that wrecked me and I screamed about all year</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Disclosure: I am aware of the situation that Adeyemi was involved in on Twitter later in 2018. I read COBAB in the first half of the year. While I disagree with her assumption and approach to the issue (ie calling out on social media), I don't believe it is enough to disregard such an amazing and important book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(<a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/08/fantasy-is-changing-for-better.html" target="_blank">You can read my five takeaways from the book here</a>.)</span></div>
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<i style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Top Ten Tuesday is a list-based bookish meme hosted every week by the amazing </span><a href="http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/" target="_blank">Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>What were your favorite books of 2018? Are any books from my list on yours as well? </b></i></span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><b>What books should I read in 2019 to get me out of my three-star slump?</b></i><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Also, I am super curious about your worst books of 2018. Which books fell on the other end of the spectrum for you this year? </b></i></blockquote>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-43762490413297504132018-12-20T18:01:00.000-05:002018-12-21T17:05:34.264-05:00Your Best Posts of 2018 | A Master List of the Posts Bloggers Loved Writing this Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9Vsr6mpYIXAzSCjPr5d_BnpEIhCvA0QivRnq3TVJkyGast721EYsTz5MUcw8Fb1qO4SR8YIvBmc9SR-yhMtKfaUi0IAdcJwFSVD-JPtGxX6gysgDQqTFje551PGg5ozuxyoQh5BgILw/s1600/The+Best+Posts+of+2018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9Vsr6mpYIXAzSCjPr5d_BnpEIhCvA0QivRnq3TVJkyGast721EYsTz5MUcw8Fb1qO4SR8YIvBmc9SR-yhMtKfaUi0IAdcJwFSVD-JPtGxX6gysgDQqTFje551PGg5ozuxyoQh5BgILw/s640/The+Best+Posts+of+2018.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The end of the year is a time of self-reflection. This year, instead of just staring into a mirror and lamenting about all of the goals I never achieved and promises that I broke to myself, <b>I thought I would celebrate the achievements of the blogging community.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, I went to Twitter and <b>asked for your favorite posts that you wrote this year</b>, whether it was a review that you are proud of or a thoughtful discussion that didn't get as much love as you wanted. There is a whole spectrum of posts in this list with all kinds of book bloggers lending their favorite posts of 2018. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I learned a lot from this list and found quite a few new bloggers. <b>Sometimes, the posts that we are the most proud of aren't the ones with the most comments, the most views, or the most shares on social media. </b>Pride doesn't have to equate to statistics. The heart writes what the heart writes, whether or not it goes viral. That being said, I hope this master list of posts can help spread some love to the posts we are most proud of this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*I also included some quotes from random posts to further entice you to check out these posts and their discussions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Like Herding Cats Blog <a href="https://likeherdingcatsblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/22/my-slight-obsession-with-harry-potter-contains-spoilers/" target="_blank">fangirled about Harry Potter and how you can never be too old for the magic of the Wizarding World</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Emily, Amber and Jessica @ The Book Bratz <a href="http://thebookbratz.blogspot.com/2018/06/beabookcon-2018-recap.html" target="_blank">go to BEA/Book Con for the first time! I loved living vicariously through their post.</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This was the first year that all three of us were able to attend BookExpo, and it was honestly so incredible that I'm still struggling to find the right words for it."</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Chloe @ It's YA Girl <a href="https://www.itsyagirl.com/2018/06/the-weekend-wrap-up-bookcon-edition/" target="_blank">remembered her escapades at BookCon as her favorite experience of the year</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wendle @ Marvel at Words <a href="https://marvelatwords.wordpress.com/2018/02/08/stories-short-sweet/" target="_blank">tells us why short stories are just as good as long stories (also known as novels)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jo @ Book Lovers Blog <a href="https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/jo-talks-books-on-why-i-dont-believe-in-guilty-pleasures/" target="_blank">argues that there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure and why everyone should read whatever they want</a></span><br />
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<span a42="" background-color:="" color:="" quot="" sans-serif="" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;" verdana=""><i>"When you love something, you should love it openly and joyfully and share that love with other people, you shouldn’t feel you can only admit it by saying, “it’s a guilty pleasure”."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Claire @ Clairefy <a href="http://www.clairefyblog.com/2018/10/why-crazy-rich-asians-matters.html" target="_blank">shares her personal perspective on why Asian representation matters to her</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Taasia @ Librae Paints Pages <a href="https://libraepaintspages.wordpress.com/2018/11/14/jkr-problematic-poc-representation/" target="_blank">wrote about her issues with J.K. Rowling's POC representation</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fanna @ Fannatality <a href="https://fannatality.com/2018/12/01/the-three-stages-of-a-yearly-reading-goal-funny-reader-goodreads/" target="_blank">laments the three stages of a yearly reading goal (one topic which I can really relate to!)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ash @ Ink Trails <a href="https://iinktrailss.wordpress.com/2018/11/14/the-grishaverse-a-verse-in-book-universe-1/" target="_blank">started a new post series that dives deep into a series, and she started with one of her favorites, the Grishaverse</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anushka @ Living in Pages <a href="https://livinginthepagesz.wordpress.com/2018/01/23/book-borrowing-rules-of-a-bookworm/" target="_blank">gave a warning about what to expect when borrowing books from book lovers</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jaz @ Travels in Fiction <a href="https://travelsinfiction.com/2018/05/17/bad-mental-health-days-a-chat-with-friends-for-mental-health-awareness-week/" target="_blank">teamed up with some friends to talk about mental health during Mental Health Awareness Week</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"Everyone is different. There is no uniform solution for how people deal with things. We all have our own situations and individual experiences with mental health and how we cope when we are having a bad mental health day...I wanted to reach out to as many people as possible and try to gather a broad range of advice to show how individual mental health is and the variety of ways people cope on a day to day basis."</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Veronika @ The Regal Critiques <a href="https://reading-is-dreaming-with-open-eyes.blogspot.com/2018/09/royal-rantings-do-we-judge-female.html" target="_blank">asks a very important question: do we judge female characters too harshly?</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"And listen, we can all love a great villain, and even look for excuses for them - it is in everyone's right which characters they support. <b>My question is - why are there so many mainstream male villains and anti-heroes, who are getting appreciation? </b>Obviously, female villains exist - but they are rarely (if ever) loved the same way, why is that?"</span></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Somya @ Bookaholic Meets Finance Aficionado<a href="https://intactawesomeness.wordpress.com/2018/09/03/romance-books-with-the-british-charm/" target="_blank"> travels across the pond with liast of romance books with British charm</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kerys @ The Everlasting Library <a href="https://theeverlastinglibrary.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/crimes-every-bookworm-commits/" target="_blank">calls out readers for crimes that every bookworm commits</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>"This is actually a really major crime. Some of you might be claiming to be innocent but honestly, we’ve all done this at one point or other. You might have done it as a smol pineapple."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>You have to read the post to see what crime Kerys is talking about!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Esmee @ Ezzie's Bookshelf <a href="https://ezziesbookshelf.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/11-tips-to-get-free-cheap-books-without-pirating/" target="_blank">shares 11 tips to get free and cheap books without pirating</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Noura @ The Perks of Being Noura <a href="https://theperksofbeingnourablog.wordpress.com/2018/09/22/books-by-female-authors-of-color/" target="_blank">gathered a list of Female Authors of Color with reviews from bloggers around the community (including yours truly!)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kay @ It's a Book Life <a href="http://itisabooklife.blogspot.com/2018/03/find-your-next-read-sun-is-also-star.html" target="_blank">created a new feature on her blog to find new reads! She calls them a list of "read-a-likes", and this one lists books for those who loved The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rachel @ Never Enough Novels <a href="http://neverenoughnovels.com/2018/07/09/favorite-books-of-2018-so-far/" target="_blank">lists her favorite books of 2018 (so far)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Allison @ Mind Joggle <a href="https://www.mindjoggle.com/story-a-little-life/" target="_blank">revisited a popular book with a list of things you didn't know about A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hannah @ Books, Life, and other Oddities <a href="https://bookslifeotheroddities.wordpress.com/2018/08/28/top-ten-female-book-characters-in-stem/" target="_blank">featured a list of her top female STEM characters (representing those ladies in the sciences!)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>"This is a topic very close to my heart as I’m a female computer scientist and appear to be a bit of a minority in my field. I always get a little over-excited when I read a book and there’s a girl interested in machines, or computers or maths or anything because yay for girls in STEM!"</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Aoife @ Pretty Purple Polka Dots <a href="https://prettypurplepolkadots.wordpress.com/2018/04/27/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-i-started-book-blogging/" target="_blank">wants you to learn from her wisdom with her list of things she wished she knew before starting a book blog</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Saar @ Walking Through the Pages <a href="https://walkingthroughthepages.com/index.php/20;%2218/gateway-books-to-my-favorite-genres/" target="_blank">made a helpful list of gateway books into her favorite genres (if you are looking to try a new genre, definitely check it out!)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Stephanie @ The Secret Reader <a href="https://stephaniebaka.wixsite.com/thesecretreader/blog/a-letter-to-all-the-bookblogges-i-love-tag" target="_blank">wrote a letter listing some of her favorite book bloggers</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Luana @ Book Storm <a href="https://bookstormgirl.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/a-handy-guide-to-death-by-books/" target="_blank">lists all of the wonderful ways you could die as a book worm (which is hilarious and all you will ever need to know about death by books)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Imi @ Imi Reviews Books <a href="https://imireviewsbooks.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/imi-recommends-socially-important-millennial-fiction/" target="_blank">lists some socially important millennial fiction</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">April @ The Vagaries of Us <a href="https://thevagariesofus.com/book-boyfriends-list/'" target="_blank">shares her list of top book boyfriends (including quite a few adult books too)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Emma @ A Cornish Geek <a href="https://acornishgeek.com/2018/06/19/books-for-feminists-of-all-ages/" target="_blank">lists books for feminists of all ages</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"I’ve become more aware of the gender stereotypes enforced on children and how women are treated differently as they get older; regardless of whether you’re a working mum, stay-at-home mum, choose not to have children, put your career first, put your family first – everyone has an opinion and you can’t do right for doing wrong... It’s time that we empower women to make the right choices for them and also provide children with positive female role models."</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Tiffany @ Bookish Tiffany <a href="https://bookishtiffany.wordpress.com/2018/12/05/the-wicked-king-by-holly-black/" target="_blank">reviews The Wicked King by Holly Black</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Roberta @ Offbeat YA <a href="https://offbeat-ya.blogspot.com/2018/04/erin-callahan-art-of-escaping-arc-review.html" target="_blank">reviews her first ever physical ARC of The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan, a underrated read that I rather liked too.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>"In a world where we're constantly told we need to be seen in order to be real, where talent shows have distorted our perception of inner calling, we all need stories like this, where being seen is just a necessary consequence, not the aim all along. Also, stories in which your passion for something is the first step to go out there and own a place in the real world."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Lauren @ Reading, Writing, and Me <a href="http://www.readingwritingandme.com/2018/10/imagine-us-happy.html" target="_blank">reviewed Imagine Us Happy by Jennifer Yu</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Elizabeth @ Before We Go Blog <a href="https://beforewegoblog.com/2018/12/05/graphic-novel-review-preludes-nocturnes-the-sandman-1-by-neil-gaiman/" target="_blank">reviewed a classic graphic novel, Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman (The Sandman #1)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cody @ A Thin Slice of Anxiety <a href="http://www.athinsliceofanxiety.com/2018/04/review-night-comes-to-cumberlands.html" target="_blank">wrote a review of non-fiction book Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area by Harry M. Caudill</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Amara Lynn @ FictionCove <a href="https://www.fictioncove.com/reviews/review-help-wanted-by-j-emery/" target="_blank">wrote her first #ownvoices review for Help Wanted by J. Emery</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Manzar @ It's Manzar <a href="https://itsmanzar.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/children-of-blood-and-bone-by-tomi-adeyemi-book-review/" target="_blank">reviewed Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, one of my personal favorite books of the year</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Light of the Bookworm <a href="https://lightofthebookworm.wordpress.com/2018/11/25/book-review-the-family-tree/" target="_blank">posted a review (and beautiful pictures) of The Family Tree by Mal Peet</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rachel @ Rachel Read It <a href="https://www.rachelreadit.co.uk/annual-winter-y-reads-the-breathing-method-by-stephen-king-and-ghost-story-by-peter-straub/" target="_blank">puts a scary twist on the winter season with her dual review of The Breathing Method by Stephen King and Ghost Story by Peter Straub</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jake @ Dystopian Shuffle <a href="https://dystopianshuffle.com/2018/11/30/book-review-the-reader-of-acheron-the-slaves-of-erafor-book-1/" target="_blank">posted his review of The Reader of Acheron by Walter Rhein, (it's also the first book that an author directly asked him to review!)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Millie @ Millie Rose Reads <a href="http://www.millierosereads.com/2018/12/normal-people-by-sally-rooney.html" target="_blank">reviewed Normal People by Sally Rooney, featuring discussions about mental health and the struggles of social pressures</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>"This story cleverly addresses mental health and social divides, and painfully represents how mean kids can be in school in pursuit of normality. Being different is undesirable, even frightening to some. But it's normal not to be normal, and this novel demonstrates that it is the pressure of obtaining and sustaining the perceived social standard of normality that is what is really dangerous."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Caitlin @ Turning Pages <a href="http://turningpagebooks.tumblr.com/post/180737223922/arc-review-my-favorite-half-night-stand-by" target="_blank">reviewed My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jenn @ Coffeehouse Read <a href="https://www.coffeehouseread.com/2018/11/27/65/" target="_blank">reviewed The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien (plus she is new to the book blogging community and could use some friends!)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Odette @ I Won't Say I'm in Love with Reading <a href="https://iwontsayiminlovewithreading.blogspot.com/2018/12/splintered-review.html" target="_blank">reviewed Splintered by A. G. Howard</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A @ Avid Reader Diary <a href="https://avidreaderdiary.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/the-book-thatll-make-you-cry-from-start-until-the-end-my-thoughts-on-the-last-wish-of-sasha-cade-by-cheyanne-young/" target="_blank">reviewed a book that made her cry her eyes out (in a good way), The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyanne Young</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"The Last Wish of Sasha Cade is a book that will make you treasure more your friendship with other people, your relationship with your family, and quite surprisingly, yourself."</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jenn @ Bound to Writing <a href="https://www.boundtowriting.com/banned-book-club-june-2018-the-hate-u-give/" target="_blank">wrote a review of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas for her banned book club</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">How Tos</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Amanda @ Devouring Books explained the intimidating process of getting ARCs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">https://devouringbooks2017.wordpress.com/2018/10/03/how-to-get-arcs-a-guide/</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Briana @ Pages Unbound <a href="https://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/2018/04/24/bookstagram-on-a-budget/" target="_blank">divulges her secrets of how to rock Bookstagram on a budget</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"Personally, I don’t begrudge people who have thousands of followers on Bookstagram because they seem to have a lot of stuff; it seems perfectly reasonable that their accounts would be popular by virtue of the fact that what they photograph is rare. We love to look because we don’t own 5000 color-coordinated books or 200 Funkos, but it’s really fun to see someone who does. That said, I don’t think you need to spend a lot of money to take great pictures for your own account."</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kristin @ Seven Days a Week <a href="https://sevendaysaweek.co/10-writing-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them/" target="_blank">shares how to fix some common writing mistakes</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Lena @ Lena's Notebook <a href="https://lenasnotebook.blogspot.com/2018/11/miniguideworkexperience.html" target="_blank">shares how to make the most of your publishing internship and work experience</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>"Your placement can be daunting, especially for introverts and naturally quiet people. So if you can’t do all of the above in your first placement – just at least try to wiggle yourself out of your comfort zone and try something new each day."</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Other</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Stephen @ Stephen Write <a href="https://stephenwriterblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/11/poem-to-be-read/" target="_blank">shared a fantastic poem about the struggles of having a large TBR. He articulates all of my feelings in a creative and beautiful way that I never could myself!</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kaleena @ Reader Voracious <a href="https://readervoracious.com/2018/08/16/reading-around-globe/" target="_blank">started a series on her blog to highlight book bloggers outside of the United States and bring some perspective to the lives of international bloggers</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Rev Rebecca @ Rev Rebecca Writes <a href="https://beckiewrites.com/2018/12/03/book-review-with-author-qa-pride-prejudice-personal-statements/" target="_blank">reviewed Pride, Prejudice, and Personal Statements, including an interview with the author, Mary Pagones</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jordan @ The Heart of a Book Blogger <a href="http://theheartofabookblogger.com/a-tour-of-manhattan-paris-and-barcelona-isla-the-happily-ever-after-edition" target="_blank">went on a tour of Manhattan, Paris, and Barcelona with Isla and the Happily Ever After</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(in short, she visited places from the book and this is the coolest thing ever!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Derbyshire Duckie <a href="https://derbyshireduckie.com/jolabokaflod-the-norwegian-christmas-tradition-of-book-giving/" target="_blank">shared her new bookish Christmas tradition</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"I enjoy giving new and old books alike. Charity Shops, second hand bookshops, independents and online stores all benefit from my book buying addiction. When I find a book for someone that I know is perfect, it doesn't matter whether it has been read previously. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In fact I believe a used book holds more stories than the one written inside."</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sohini @ Pen and Paper <a href="https://sohinikumar.com/2018/08/19/anatomy-of-a-bookshelf/" target="_blank">scientifically diagrams the anatomy of her bookshelf</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Marina @ Bardic Impulses <a href="https://bardicimpulses.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/bookcon-2018-let-me-recount-my-favorite-author-anecdotes/" target="_blank">recounts some of her favorite stories from authors at BookCon 2018</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sumedha @ The Wordy Habitat <a href="https://thewordyhabitat.wordpress.com/2018/12/07/bts-burn-the-stage-experience/" target="_blank">reviewed the BTS Burn the Stage Experience (I am not personally into KPOP, but I love the work and passion in this post!)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Here is the link to the Twitter thread if you want to find some bloggers to follow!</b> </span></div>
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Hey <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bookbloggers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bookbloggers</a>! I want to feature YOUR favorite posts of 2018 as a part of my yearly wrap-up. Send me links to the posts that you are most proud of or loved writing the most!<br />
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Please RT so I can get posts from all over the blogosphere!</div>
— Tessa (@Crazyfor_YA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazyfor_YA/status/1071848121129406465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What was your favorite post that you wrote in 2018? What was the best post that you read? What were your favorite kinds of posts to read this year? Did you discover some new bloggers from my list? (If not, please look again!)</span></b></i></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKkVqYsx-j4fuvoqWpNa2CZAOnhhN7I2Ufu4SsBo90Fu2LYjf7ighHZClXcVSJG3T9zUM_c7ilM3et88nSUTYNVrQGGzq10sXUgyjGPfOSC5j8HkTpmKCwqmXC8yg7uzDZaT7jN7hyOM/s1600/TessaSignature.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1334" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKkVqYsx-j4fuvoqWpNa2CZAOnhhN7I2Ufu4SsBo90Fu2LYjf7ighHZClXcVSJG3T9zUM_c7ilM3et88nSUTYNVrQGGzq10sXUgyjGPfOSC5j8HkTpmKCwqmXC8yg7uzDZaT7jN7hyOM/s200/TessaSignature.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-62991233161268419502018-12-04T04:00:00.000-05:002018-12-04T04:00:03.411-05:00Paper Girl by Cindy R. Wilson | Blog Tour and Review<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzIWaTDXZ6MXIyHjV0KwPelvhDPhkQpW1Ozm0tkePNHty0IZTMtvwPXBXvQhUsFoVqtq7SoJyZJdfMzwOdQdS5207Sr_F1WAgUDqSsh3sG3jrjfTMtICmrfwDVbaMWJjTDT9xUvrmRxE/s1600/PaperGirl_1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzIWaTDXZ6MXIyHjV0KwPelvhDPhkQpW1Ozm0tkePNHty0IZTMtvwPXBXvQhUsFoVqtq7SoJyZJdfMzwOdQdS5207Sr_F1WAgUDqSsh3sG3jrjfTMtICmrfwDVbaMWJjTDT9xUvrmRxE/s400/PaperGirl_1600.jpg" width="266" /></a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Paper Girl</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Cindy R. Wilson</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">400 Pages</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published December 4th, 2018</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Young Adult, Contemporary</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Panic Attacks, Drugs, and Alcoholism</span><br />
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<i style="color: #444444; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">This book was provided to me from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.</i><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40122155-paper-girl" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmUFI7ZtY6JXs5MBKPO30L3vJUTYoKDXQTofnEVwtUwWajep7hzb6RRdXrA5dCmA9QoZx3p9L0tq-YlWrGrhI4lStac_3CLw_jY4Ufwl6n0o2GlrgPQahF5iRc2Er0E_eIZSQpnViVaH4/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span 0in="" 107="" 1pt="" border:="" line-height:="" none="" padding:="" windowtext="">I haven’t left my house in
over a year. My doctor says it’s social anxiety, but I know the only things
that are safe are made of paper. My room is paper. My world is paper.
Everything outside is fire. All it would take is one spark for me to burst into
flames. So I stay inside. Where nothing can touch me.</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span 0in="" 107="" 1pt="" border:="" line-height:="" none="" padding:="" windowtext=""><br /></span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span 0in="" 107="" 1pt="" border:="" line-height:="" none="" padding:="" windowtext="">
Then my mom hires a tutor. Jackson. This boy I had a crush on before the world
became too terrifying to live in. Jackson’s life is the complete opposite of
mine, and I can tell he’s got secrets of his own. But he makes me feel things.
Makes me want to try again. Makes me want to be brave. I can almost taste the
outside world. But so many things could go wrong, and all it takes is one spark
for everything I love to disappear...</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://entangledpublishing.com/paper-girl.html" target="_blank">Purchase the book here from various retailers!</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">YA contemporaries that mix mental health issues and romance can be tricky. There is a chance that the romance can overwhelm the actual representation of mental health and warp the most interesting part of the novel into a mere subplot in comparison to the romance. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I would like to give the caveat that I do not have firsthand experience with mental health, so take my opinions with a grain of salt and please also seek out own voices reviewers.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, Paper Girl has the prefect mix of exploring Zoe's life and her journey with agoraphobia, including anxiety, therapy sessions, exposure therapy, progression, and regression. <b>This isn't a simple story where a boy shows up and magically cures Zoe's anxiety.</b> Jackson is important to Zoe, but doesn't become her crutch. In the end, Zoe makes her own life better, which is a strong theme that is not seen in YA as often as it should. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Speaking of Zoe, I loved her characterization. Yes, her agoraphobia is important, but it isn't the most important thing about her. <b>She is quirky because of her personality, not because of her mental health. </b>Her love of chess, obsession with paper art, and pendant for comic books are used to characterize her as "quirky" or "different" instead of her agoraphobia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Zoe is also a great character since we get to see both the highs and the lows with her therapy. <b>There is no magical cure for mental health and her journey shows the complicated process of progression and regression in therapy. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even though Jackson is not Zoe's "savior" I do appreciate his relationship with Zoe. <b>They have an incredible "meet cute" story that is pure, innocent, and too gosh darn adorable.</b> Their relationship is built off of a love of chess and mutual nerdiness that warms my heart. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most importantly, I loved the give and take in their relationship. There was a respect in their relationship that make it even more awe-worthy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The romance isn't the only relationship that I loved as b<b>oth Zoe's and Jackson's families were given a lot of page time. </b>Both families are completely different, yet they also both struggle and love. Both the good and the bad were shown in both families, which is a dynamic that is not traditionally seen in YA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Jackson has his own struggles, but since the synopsis doesn't specify them, I am going to leave you to discover them. All I will say is that I believe they were handled well, if a little bit unrealistically.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My only complaint would be that <b>the plot was a little bit weak, more so a diary of their lives instead of an action-driven narrative.</b> There were some end goals in sight, but on the whole, especially with Jackson's narrative, the story just seemed to be rambling on to the future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Ultimately, Paper Girl is a great exploration of living with agoraphobia that doesn't fall into the popular trap that romance fixes everything. If you love chess, origami, or just good mental health representation (which I hope is all of you), I recommend Paper Girl.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">About the Author</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrkPPYxvf6VCkwYDc4-nS1BEgW8qSxx_Nr0-YyU_xPYo_-3xzgzwkdumK43GcZfvrA5ergF03DDP-D_7OKjn-7WgCh5rwRxVTVL57zYr0rSRx9IfItK1wf6TL8TiOJWxvOYuX0xnU2Ms/s1600/cindy_wilson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="248" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrkPPYxvf6VCkwYDc4-nS1BEgW8qSxx_Nr0-YyU_xPYo_-3xzgzwkdumK43GcZfvrA5ergF03DDP-D_7OKjn-7WgCh5rwRxVTVL57zYr0rSRx9IfItK1wf6TL8TiOJWxvOYuX0xnU2Ms/s200/cindy_wilson.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cindy lives at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and loves
using Colorado towns and cities as inspiration for settings in her stories.
She's the mother of three girls, who provide plenty of fodder for her YA
novels. Cindy writes speculative fiction and YA fiction, filled with a healthy
dose of romance. You'll often find her hiking or listening to any number of playlists
while she comes up with her next story idea.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://cindyrwilson.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> * <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5363846.Cindy_R_Wilson" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> * <a href="https://twitter.com/CindyRWilson" target="_blank">Twitter</a> * <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCindyRWilson/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Giveaway</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Enter for your chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card and a Paper Girl themed journal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(US Only)</span></div>
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<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="1cb554951296" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/1cb554951296/" id="rcwidget_lons59of" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">a Rafflecopter giveaway</span></a>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Thanks to <a href="http://yaboundbooktours.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">YA Bound Book Tours</a> for organizing the tour!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>What are some of your favorite YA books with good mental health representation? Have you ever read a book with an agoraphobic main character? Are you a chess master? (I definitely am not, but I am trying to learn). What about an origami creator?</b></i></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-29713240049349680452018-12-02T19:31:00.005-05:002018-12-02T19:49:18.369-05:00Welcome to Winter | Fall 2018 Wrap-Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MLdjmR2l6qSyDL5NlXFBzs-u9xgIl8dwu4r2DLmvJ-5-dX4_JS7lDxY5xWF8xT1yo7FZJW_14NxVcWe32Pcw-UQyx9VImNWEHBcBlDTmBnOSLP_vj0PpT0g6KX1Lwss8vE4qlU9jEf0/s1600/Copy+of+As+Summer+Leaves.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MLdjmR2l6qSyDL5NlXFBzs-u9xgIl8dwu4r2DLmvJ-5-dX4_JS7lDxY5xWF8xT1yo7FZJW_14NxVcWe32Pcw-UQyx9VImNWEHBcBlDTmBnOSLP_vj0PpT0g6KX1Lwss8vE4qlU9jEf0/s640/Copy+of+As+Summer+Leaves.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As soon as December 1st hits, it is the Christmas season for me (sometimes even before that). And, at least in my hemisphere, that means sweaters, snow, and everything else wintry. So, I am calling my combined wrap-up of October and November my "fall wrap-up" in order to properly welcome the holiday spirit and winter wonderfulness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not to mention the fact that I have already had snow in my wonderful Northern location, so I am going to reap the benefits of the winter season if Mother Nature is going to throw snow at us this early.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Posts I Loved from the Blogosphere</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Roberta @ Offbeat YA <a href="http://offbeat-ya.blogspot.com/2018/11/tell-me-something-tuesday-why-should-you-comment.html" target="_blank">explains the value of discussion and why you should comment</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kaleena @ </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Reader Voracious </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://readervoracious.com/2018/11/28/2019-spreadsheet-template/" target="_blank">released her 2019 Book Blogger Spreadsheet Template</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Claire @ Clairefy <a href="http://www.clairefyblog.com/2018/10/why-crazy-rich-asians-matters.html" target="_blank">shared her personal experiences about why Asian representation matters </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kristen @ Moonlight and Metaphors <a href="https://blog.kristenburns.com/book-covers-featuring-poc-characters/" target="_blank">compiled a g</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blog.kristenburns.com/book-covers-featuring-poc-characters/" target="_blank">reat list of beautiful covers with POC characters</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cam @ Camillea Reads <a href="https://camilleareads.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/platonic-love-representation/" target="_blank">discussed the importance of platonic relationships</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: center;">1. Kindle Unlimited</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">My only Cyber Monday purchase this year was a three-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited for only 99 cents! There are only certain books available on Unlimited (which is quite contrary to the name, but whatever). Mostly it is self-published books, but hopefully the subscription will let me read books outside of my norm and find a few hidden gems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: center;">2. Guest Post on The Regal Critiques</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;">Veronika @ <a href="https://reading-is-dreaming-with-open-eyes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Regal Critiques</a> was kind enough to invite me to write a guest post for their A Winter's Tale blog event for December. I had a ton of fun writing my post and I hope that I did their blog justice.</span></span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">The best news is that I am not the only blogger participating! Throughout the month of December, they will be hosting some of my favorite bloggers to share something that they loved to write. <a href="https://reading-is-dreaming-with-open-eyes.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-winters-tale-opening-post.html" target="_blank">Click here to see the introduction post, list of bloggers, and learn enter their international giveaway!</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am also being purposefully vague about my post's topic. You just have to keep an eye on their blog to find the amazing discussion I wrote!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">What Have I Been Doing</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Catching Up on Doctor Who</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: normal;">I have been a very apathetic Doctor Who fan in the beginning of the year. I heard about Jodie Whittaker's casting as the newest Doctor and was so excited. But then, I realized that I still had three previous seasons to catch up on (all of the Capaldi seasons and most of Smith's last season). Add the fact that Doctor Who's heavy episodes aren't exactly possible to binge, and I felt hopelessly behind on the series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: normal;">However, with the inner drive to procrastinate my homework, I finally caught up on the previous seasons and I am ready to start the adventures with the 13th Doctor!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Watching a ton of movies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: normal;">I spend my Thanksgiving break spending time with my family and watching a ton of movies (mostly at the same time). I got to see Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald, and I have a LOT of thoughts if anyone wants to rant with me in the comments. I also got to see Bohemian Rhapsody, which is probably one of my favorite movies of the year (and I am not even the biggest fan of Queen!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. (Almost) the end of the semester</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: normal;">The end of the college semester comes with a lot of things, and procrastination is definitely one of them for me (see the previous two points). I have papers to write, exams to stress out over, and group projects to complain about. Above all, I just need to make sure that I end the semester strongly. Unfortunately, that has meant a little bit less activity on the blog as my head is stuck in academic textbooks, not novels. The good news is, for better or worse, the semester ends in about two weeks and I should be back to posting somewhat less sporadically then. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You know you are a college blogger when:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">--you promise yourself that you will catch up on everything over Thanksgiving break</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">--you think about blogging and doing homework a lot </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">--you eat a lot of pie</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">--you do absolutely no homework or blogging over break</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">— Tessa (@Crazyfor_YA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazyfor_YA/status/1066432363733942273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2018</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Book of the Month</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5F0vlqn8EGt-J5-IB1OwcuJbRZAPWHqvXW51GOpQ1boMr4GN8ICCOZHBfpQgSxv1HXOl6yd2yjyTxsd9ue1QxjyGxetWJWoiY7-wPM3OKwDp8ifYJgK13cOG-Vvkr-NsNkUEw00Z1nPg/s1600/paper+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5F0vlqn8EGt-J5-IB1OwcuJbRZAPWHqvXW51GOpQ1boMr4GN8ICCOZHBfpQgSxv1HXOl6yd2yjyTxsd9ue1QxjyGxetWJWoiY7-wPM3OKwDp8ifYJgK13cOG-Vvkr-NsNkUEw00Z1nPg/s320/paper+girl.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Paper Girl by Cindy R. Wilson</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">It is rare that a contemporary claims the spot of best book for me, but Paper Girl triumphed with a four-star rating. My full review and blog tour post will come next week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Other Books I Read</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sBZdNsKNxXsdwh2dv1qSjuBBXxTBGQmdka78TbjIV1hV63rmvkDOSV-4JMjKHJ5onyT1XtLH4JAq98jlFmeT-OwE1wPKKY9YfhelbjDnmZpWAe0DQv2N4DSPlIlrWH3saAiXG0SgTkA/s1600/darkcrowns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sBZdNsKNxXsdwh2dv1qSjuBBXxTBGQmdka78TbjIV1hV63rmvkDOSV-4JMjKHJ5onyT1XtLH4JAq98jlFmeT-OwE1wPKKY9YfhelbjDnmZpWAe0DQv2N4DSPlIlrWH3saAiXG0SgTkA/s200/darkcrowns.jpg" width="131" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJhC6186CjhrLdkYEmWoFlOy1ZwKwVvcRR5axUJxP3yZNQEUN6umUNkkUR1lqcvc-EmY7wUhfGxOB2rr-WDyU8TorI0xtVXaN1K5J8j8gLM_HCv1rnQE3bq0zo2vW4TGjzkovDIobmE0/s1600/awakening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJhC6186CjhrLdkYEmWoFlOy1ZwKwVvcRR5axUJxP3yZNQEUN6umUNkkUR1lqcvc-EmY7wUhfGxOB2rr-WDyU8TorI0xtVXaN1K5J8j8gLM_HCv1rnQE3bq0zo2vW4TGjzkovDIobmE0/s200/awakening.jpg" width="126" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKCO34-C3kEdY98tCik3lqAdtA_i69dELtQRyDUwgo-EPDmymm26EJAhPOfS_WkYkiJJ8QbC296_D-mO86LS3vmlmg9_KluNIUK1_7r0ZB2-7AvsLXxn8IdBYp2EQe-5G7XYkLz31m08/s1600/trulydevious.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKCO34-C3kEdY98tCik3lqAdtA_i69dELtQRyDUwgo-EPDmymm26EJAhPOfS_WkYkiJJ8QbC296_D-mO86LS3vmlmg9_KluNIUK1_7r0ZB2-7AvsLXxn8IdBYp2EQe-5G7XYkLz31m08/s200/trulydevious.jpg" width="138" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVHYCqBedgtayIWKJz_OY7tlVgFygwkGf3jUwdQdk84vD6o3DrAfHkSWVQVDOP54JpuVx2tTbpR9IJliJJy2WpgIt1ItuLY_JVVqtQlR6Rsaj6FlIDJ_d2shkShqeeJ7Aa0djvbxo3Mgk/s1600/fractureafairytale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="259" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVHYCqBedgtayIWKJz_OY7tlVgFygwkGf3jUwdQdk84vD6o3DrAfHkSWVQVDOP54JpuVx2tTbpR9IJliJJy2WpgIt1ItuLY_JVVqtQlR6Rsaj6FlIDJ_d2shkShqeeJ7Aa0djvbxo3Mgk/s200/fractureafairytale.jpg" width="129" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Books I Want to Read Before 2019</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzAabs5zbymyTRvZxpjGW0qy1bWnp_jMN_btc1VniAEuEF5GwB3KywspF8zDdZ58GTCCtHeR2s3o4dc9AAIzjyJ7dUCnPDmn4IA55wze8M2aETIFf46zj2p9Ev7wy_ej_wdfuwuOTRaM/s1600/handmaids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzAabs5zbymyTRvZxpjGW0qy1bWnp_jMN_btc1VniAEuEF5GwB3KywspF8zDdZ58GTCCtHeR2s3o4dc9AAIzjyJ7dUCnPDmn4IA55wze8M2aETIFf46zj2p9Ev7wy_ej_wdfuwuOTRaM/s200/handmaids.jpg" width="129" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZysTkYZ9eUt5c8T95OHr0JO0yFP-ZWdvhpnWy7PW_Wol8KMJ_xpo7_xdn4FLhVzwqchfsJG4TDTNO9xl6bhgSF-8PnBBtJFY5kYUXS8-6Ky8gnxe4ZdNmmZY79BMMY66NV4KqSCVjFQ/s1600/savagesong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBZysTkYZ9eUt5c8T95OHr0JO0yFP-ZWdvhpnWy7PW_Wol8KMJ_xpo7_xdn4FLhVzwqchfsJG4TDTNO9xl6bhgSF-8PnBBtJFY5kYUXS8-6Ky8gnxe4ZdNmmZY79BMMY66NV4KqSCVjFQ/s200/savagesong.jpg" width="131" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuC7vz21pd4AvwXmvbfwYm0Cva4LtSkh_UWGgc8fbyOQ0OjSf2YNXn9Zvmp7LNG4yoG6rxNkoPRoLjtN9MIPQY1exPc05BjCSn5vVMYwri-BnlLCtTRerBXgyLQy6mwyc9K1X_jblF-u8/s1600/thousand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="230" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuC7vz21pd4AvwXmvbfwYm0Cva4LtSkh_UWGgc8fbyOQ0OjSf2YNXn9Zvmp7LNG4yoG6rxNkoPRoLjtN9MIPQY1exPc05BjCSn5vVMYwri-BnlLCtTRerBXgyLQy6mwyc9K1X_jblF-u8/s200/thousand.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b><i>Are you ready for Christmas yet? If not, what are your goals for the rest of the year? How did October and November treat you? Are you a Whovian or a Potterhead who wants to discuss with me?</i></b></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-65009642418486397142018-11-30T17:49:00.001-05:002018-11-30T17:49:35.643-05:00Fairytales outside of Disney | How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; font-size: x-large;">How to Fracture a Fairy Tale</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Jane Yolen</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYiGxwy-UduvcWqw4a4-oZMaq7qd8QsaI6r615DlK_IYcE3-jzrSuOzq0rG8Cef25MBGNb6Qwx_faf-VAqQ-eXHnkarB_Lv86ElKGMjQf0ZtVFuX48qTUnS-EloS_gshugsm7_iYvZWy4/s1600/fractureafairytale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="259" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYiGxwy-UduvcWqw4a4-oZMaq7qd8QsaI6r615DlK_IYcE3-jzrSuOzq0rG8Cef25MBGNb6Qwx_faf-VAqQ-eXHnkarB_Lv86ElKGMjQf0ZtVFuX48qTUnS-EloS_gshugsm7_iYvZWy4/s400/fractureafairytale.jpg" width="258" /></span></a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published on November 5, 2018</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">320 Pages</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fantasy, Short Stories, Retellings</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">This book was provided to me from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.</i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40228322-how-to-fracture-a-fairy-tale?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsHBIJ2af9_StIXqJyGV2IiFhV391hoKlAImPFw2LMtKqYJWDer_0MDwlaREEx6jLHgMpfXPZGgVcZo-LIdYoS6mA8O2Vu5UhtdIuckQVPGX3_0G2GiF3o77fOYTpjagPGDGdzxUuYfY/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fantasy legend Jane Yolen presents a wide-ranging offering of fractured fairy tales. Yolen fractures the classics to reveal their crystalline secrets, holding them to the light and presenting them entirely transformed; where a spinner of straw into gold becomes a money-changer and the big bad wolf retires to a nursing home. Rediscover the tales you once knew, rewritten and refined for the world we now live in―or a much better version of it.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Review</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For better or worse, fairy tales are ingrained into our society. The ideas of a Prince Charming or a Fairy Godmother, along with hundreds of other character archetypes and tropes, are derived from these classic tales. However, not all of these tales have happy endings or even necessarily apply to today's world.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The point of How to Fracture a Fairy Tale is to turn these original stories on their heads, to either reveal a new perspective, adapt them to modernity, or to emphasize the darker versions that Disney left out of their animated movies. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On the whole, I enjoyed the stories. Unfortunately, <b>the goal of "fracturing" these ta</b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>les was a little lost due to the obscurity of some of these tales. </b>I enjoyed pretty much every story, but I would only say that I was able to recognize the original tale out of half of them. One one hand, that means<b> I was introduced to a variety of new stories and there is a diversity of cultures and characters represented in the retellings. </b>The downside was the slight confusion while reading the stories. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Thankfully,<b> there is a helpful, informative appendix in the end that explains each tale, its origins, and how it was changed.</b> While I appreciated the effort, this guide came a little late as I was lost while reading some of the stories.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In addition to the confusion, some tales were not as exciting or provocative as others. Some just seemed aimless, without a satisfying ending. I could recognize that the stories were changed from the original, but at points it just seemed like change for change's own sake. <b>In the end, many of the stories were merely fractured, with tiny parts changed, instead of completely breaking with tradition.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To end on the bright side, here is a break-down of my favorite stories from the collection:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Best Stories</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Sun/Flight</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A retelling of Icarus with a poetic description of his tragedy and the problems he would have faced if he survived his fall. The story of Icarus is one of my favorites in Greek mythology, and this miniature retelling does the original justice and genuinely surprised me with the ending. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. </span>Snow in Summer</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As the first story, retelling of Snow White started the collection off in a strong manner that was just not sustained. This twisting of the original tale reveals another side of Snow White and her struggles as she was not as pure as we were taught to think. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Out of the "Disney" stories, this one was the most fractured compared to the retellings of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in the collection. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Godmother Death</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even though I was not familiar with the original tale for this retelling, I enjoyed the idea of Death as someone's godmother. There was a reversal of roles with Death not actually bringing death (for the most part, at least). </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Outside of my top three, the stories were alright. When I come back to them in a month or so, I don't think I would be able to remember what they were about. These stories were the diamonds in the rough and kept me reading the collection despite the less-than-stellar counterparts.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>If you are a fairy tale aficionado or just interested in learning the history behind modern perceptions of classic tales, then Jane Yolen's investigative approach to retellings is for you. A more casual fan of fairy tales, especially of the Disney variety, may not find the collection on the whole to their liking due to the obscurity of some stories. There are some gems in this collection if you have the patience to find them.</i></b></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What fairytale would you love to see fractured? What is your favorite fairytale retelling? Are you a fan of short stories? If so, leave me more recommendations!</span></b></i></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-24248119230857424892018-11-10T14:50:00.002-05:002018-11-12T13:17:13.528-05:00I Have Been Betrayed | Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Three Dark Crowns</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1VjEo7CX8FAwkSpdYJQvoE8929eqhSOxIfR52ICpx7THop8lknssveKa_EN9lAS709D7SvGA1E_AskgQlDfapNt14W2BBPmbGSqQpVffLZKOQ5NSn1OpZWxnh4d52a5dliFz_Nwkvik/s1600/threedarkcrowns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1VjEo7CX8FAwkSpdYJQvoE8929eqhSOxIfR52ICpx7THop8lknssveKa_EN9lAS709D7SvGA1E_AskgQlDfapNt14W2BBPmbGSqQpVffLZKOQ5NSn1OpZWxnh4d52a5dliFz_Nwkvik/s400/threedarkcrowns.jpg" width="263" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Kendare Blake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Three Dark Crowns #1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published on September 20, 2016</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">398 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Young Adult, Fantasy</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28374007-three-dark-crowns" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5l-xC0551xNSd6wdIsn0aXOouavgdmkxYJ8OE9rgunkGE6E41Hzg0HHnKl3fiE-XvkM7GVGwmkZo7eoRSVc3ja_zqgR4BZGyafGtB82muEcOI3LPIekX8P_rh9pFL99Y-IjBtbAsbcUU/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>When kingdom come, there will be one.</i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The last queen standing gets the crown.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5l-xC0551xNSd6wdIsn0aXOouavgdmkxYJ8OE9rgunkGE6E41Hzg0HHnKl3fiE-XvkM7GVGwmkZo7eoRSVc3ja_zqgR4BZGyafGtB82muEcOI3LPIekX8P_rh9pFL99Y-IjBtbAsbcUU/s1600/Goodreads.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Review</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I don't get upset when a book surprises me (in fact, I love it when there is a well-planned twist or cliffhanger) but I hate when a book lies to me. Unfortunately, <b>the synopsis for <i>Three Dark Crowns </i>is rather misleading, implying events and focuses in the novel that are never fulfilled. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am not saying that the story was bad, just that <b>I felt betrayed by the beginning of the book and the summary. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The synopsis is also fairly misleading, as it has an emphasis on the three princesses that is not carried throughout the book. In addition, it also makes it seem like the competition occurs in this book, but you have to wait at least for the second book. <b>I loved learning about the characters and the world, but there was very little competition compared to what the synopsis promised.</b> In the arc of a competition story, this is the exposition, with only a tiny snippet of the action. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">According to the synopsis, this is supposed to be a book about three sisters, following their perspectives on a competition for the crown. <b>However, the POVs extend beyond the princesses themselves and focus too much on the secondary characters for my liking. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know more about Arsinoe's best friend, Jules, than the princess herself. Even though I love Jules, she hijacked Arsinoe's story both in the magical and romantic way. <b>Billy and Arsinoe were overshadowed by the seemingly perfect romance of Jules and Joseph, </b>with the extensive commentary on their relationship problems a bit much. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In addition, I didn't like the whole controversy with Joseph (which is all I am going to say to avoid spoilers, despite the fact that it makes me want to scream). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I didn't like Mirabella as much as I think the novel wanted me to. Everyone else loved her and it seemed like she was supposed to be my favorite, but it just back-fired. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Her bragging about her powers and her constant insistence that she is not a special snowflake just made me dislike her. <b>Claiming that you aren't a special snowflake is the one true indicator that you are the specialest of snowflakes.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>My favorite sister was far and away Katherine. </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She had the most change, especially with the ending. Her characterization was the most developed of the sisters and her personality was the most interesting (even if a little scary).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Characters aside, I loved the the political intrigue on the island and the tensions with the mainland. <b>The world-building within the island kingdom was solid, with a nice balance of information and mystery for later on in the series.</b> Each faction of the island had its own traditions, goals, and culture, that each shone in the world-building.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the end, if you are looking for an intense battle for a throne then you have to be willing to be patient. <b>The world-building and characterization was more the star of the show instead of action. </b><i>Three Dark Crowns</i> is a promising start to a series, but it did not deliver on the promises of intense competition. I would also warn that the focus is not only on the three sisters with secondary characters vying for the spotlight, some more successfully than others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i class="fa fa-star fa-5x starcolor"></i><i class="fa fa-star fa-5x starcolor"></i><i class="fa fa-star fa-5x starcolor"></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Let's Talk!</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you feel like a synopsis has ever lied to you? Do you like being surprised by a synopsis or would you rather be told straight-up what you are getting into? Have you read Three Dark Crowns? If so, do you agree with me? Who is your favorite sister? </span></i></b></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;">This is my Review of the Month for the <a href="https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/book-blogger-review-link-up-october/" target="_blank">October review collection on <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">LovelyAudiobooks.info</span></a></em><a href="https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/book-blogger-review-link-up-october/" target="_blank"> </a> Click the link to add your own review and see other blogger's best reviews of the month!</span><br />
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-85325705811077198722018-10-30T09:11:00.001-04:002018-10-30T09:11:26.242-04:00Halloween Books for my Fellow Scaredy-Cats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9NueBd0YIUcf5eGNXKeNLGYy1oWH4eSkH-NX9vjc69VUv-7rd5F778ukKP2NC5qdkmKcY8QSIqlvUeqcayobtWam0VHk6z-sB7zzTqCaogSfWz5wbl3oQ2z-oVvDzh2adA9z3cg5EME/s1600/Halloween+Books+for+my+fellow+scaredy-cats.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9NueBd0YIUcf5eGNXKeNLGYy1oWH4eSkH-NX9vjc69VUv-7rd5F778ukKP2NC5qdkmKcY8QSIqlvUeqcayobtWam0VHk6z-sB7zzTqCaogSfWz5wbl3oQ2z-oVvDzh2adA9z3cg5EME/s640/Halloween+Books+for+my+fellow+scaredy-cats.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am the first to admit that I am a coward. I don't do horror movies, haunted houses, scary costumes, or anything that will involve a jump scare. When it comes to horror, I am screaming mess who reacts to every little scare (sometimes things that aren't even meant to be scary).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Due to my sensitivity to spookiness, I always feel left out during the Halloween season. After the age of 12, it is so longer acceptable to wear cute costumes and content yourself with candy. Instead, you are meant to dive headfirst into a world of horror, blood, and guts-- a world I was not meant for. For the past couple of years, I have been searching for the common ground between scaring myself senseless and just sitting on my couch alone, eating candy while watching rom-coms.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, in the spirit of being a scaredy-cat who still wants to enjoy Halloween, I am going to list some of my favorite Halloween inspired books to help you enjoy the season even if it scares the dickens out of you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>If you aren't in the mood for supernatural creepiness (aka if ghosts and goblins are your least favorite part of Halloween), then mysteries are the best way for you to get into the spooky spirit. Mysteries almost always deal with some kind of death or murder, with the unnecessary paranormal freakiness. On the other hand, if you are creeped out by the real life horror stories, then probably still avoid this category.<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have championed this book during pretty much every season of the year, but it is particularly great for Halloween. The Naturals qualifies since it is a little bit murdery and bloody, but in a realistic kind of way. If you are a fan of Criminal Minds or any other true crime shows, then you would definitely like this one!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are more on the adventurous side of the scaredy-cat spectrum, then try your hand at this book centered around the unsolved and violent murders from Jack the Ripper. I love the historical atmosphere of Stalking Jack the Ripper, plus there is a nice romance to distract you from all of the killing (hopefully). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Daemoniac by Kat Ross</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Daemoniac is another story loosely based on the Jack the Ripper books, but less realistic than Stalking Jack the Ripper. There are more supernatural themes that make it seem less realistic, and maybe to some people, less scary. I am a fan of all things Kat Ross writes, and I am happy to say that her writing translates just as well in mystery as in fantasy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Never, Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are not in it for the creepiness or the murder, then Never, Never is probably more your speed. It is not so much a mystery as unexplained events with the two main characters losing their memories for no apparent reason. The creepiness is wondering how this happened and why, but there are no overt supernatural elements. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Thrillers are perfect for those who want to up their adrenaline without increasing the frequency of their nightmares. If you want to get your heartbeat up but not in a terrified way, then these are for you.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Dark Matter by Blake Crouch</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Dark Matter is more existential terror than outright horror. There are murdery clones and twisted reality. It reminds me of the darker episodes of Doctor Who, creepy and questioning the foundations of the universe, but not nightmare inducing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Ever since we found out that Edward from Twilight is sparkley, my fear of vampires has drastically decreased. For the most part, I think that they are too much of a trope, especially in YA, to be sincerely scared of them. If you are more in a bloody mood, then theses rather tame vampire books are here for you. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Honestly, the covers of this series are the scariest thing about them. Yes, there are vampires but it is not terrifying or horror-inducing. There is actually a lot of political intrigue, vampire high school dynamics, and relationships at work in addition to the blood and gore.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUkWCqn1a_aVS3ADmoErf7LzGIgiXjlqZqtY_8Z_AVf53uhWmg0LmsIv3P3AiMpIje0xa_VriqpZCXXIy6BWgvmO0QQPGgpYWQVBzw33BzeysuvwchuJzcebtl37XYjLCOHe6dxACMcO0/s1600/coldest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="307" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUkWCqn1a_aVS3ADmoErf7LzGIgiXjlqZqtY_8Z_AVf53uhWmg0LmsIv3P3AiMpIje0xa_VriqpZCXXIy6BWgvmO0QQPGgpYWQVBzw33BzeysuvwchuJzcebtl37XYjLCOHe6dxACMcO0/s200/coldest.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Holly Black is the master of creepy, of exploring old tropes in a new way that brings them back to life. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is definitely creepier than Vampire Academy, with more emphasis on the vampires. But, the beautiful writing style and unique twist on vampires is worth the read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>If you want to think about it in the most simplistic way, witches are just people with magic. Like, there shouldn't be anything scary about it compared to ghosts or zombies. They dabble in the supernatural, by casting spells and flying on broomsticks, but they are more human than other supernatural creatures, and therefore, less terrifying in my eyes.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Trial by Fire is a book about travelling between worlds--one with witches and one without. So, at least half of the book isn't scary. I would argue that the other half isn't scary either, just more involved with magic, power, and witchy wonderfulness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Besides Harry Potter, Hex Hall is one of the most scaredy-cat friendly books about witches. Hex Hall is about a school for supernatural beings, including werewolves, vampires, and witches. A lot of it is about figuring out who you are, especially with newfound magical powers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Dead People</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>To be clear, I am not talking about zombies. I don't do zombies and I don't think that any scaredy-cat does. I am just talking about the mentioning of dead bodies, like when you take a casual stroll through a graveyard. Not scary, right?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Archived by Victoria Schwab</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Anything by Victoria Schwab has a darker side, but The Archived is one of the darker ones. It centers around guardians of "The Archive" which is really just a fancy name for a really big graveyard. Their task is to keep the dead dead, which I can fully respect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Books to Read if You Just Want to Look Like You are Reading a Scary Book</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Sometimes, you just aren't in the Halloween mood. You don't want to read anything scary, but you want to look like you are reading a scary book to impress others. Well, this list of books whose covers are creepier than their insides is for you.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately, this book is not based on the movie Hocus Pocus. That was my first thought when I saw it on my syllabus. It is really about a soldier adjusting to life and cruelty after the Vietnam War. But, I am sure that you can trick a bunch of people with the title!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Unhinged by A. G. Howard</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This whole series has creepy covers with a figure staring directly into your soul, but the actual story never creeped me out. It is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland that is meant to be a bit darker, but how scary can you really make a cat and talking flowers?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The word "die" written in large letters in what appears to be blood is always a little bit creepy. If that is the only thing someone sees on your book cover, then they will certainly respect your stomach for horror. In reality, this is supposed to be a darker retelling of The Wizard of Oz, but I think that pretty much anyone could handle it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Also, thanks to some wonderful friends on Twitter, I have a thread of Halloween movies for the faint of heart. </span><br />
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As an extreme scaredy-cat, I struggle to get into the spooky Halloween mood without having nightmares for the rest of my life. Like, I watched The Exorcism once and didn't sleep for a week.<br />
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Does anyone have recommendations for tame books/movies that are fun and Halloweeny?</div>
— Tessa (@Crazyfor_YA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazyfor_YA/status/1053364422662672384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do you celebrate Halloween? Are you easily scared or a Halloween pro? What are your favorite books to read during the Halloween season? Do you have any recommendations for those more sensitive to scares? I am also open to movie and TV series suggestions!</span></b></i>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-5482215598752256812018-10-23T00:53:00.004-04:002018-10-23T00:55:09.198-04:00Moral Ambiguity is my Cup of Tea | My Favorite Anti-Heroes and Gray Villains<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My favorite villains are the ones who may not be evil. I love a good villain who can convince me that they are the hero of their own story. I love conflict between right and wrong that doesn't have a clear answer, as the line between good and bad is rarely clear in the real world either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In short, I like it when villains make me think. They need to have a good backstory. They might even be masquerading as heroes. <b>Sometimes a main character is neither unequivocally good or bad, and I think that the gray area in between is the most interesting. </b>I am interested in where the lines meet, when a character is not necessarily a hero but doesn't exactly fit the bill of a villain either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Authors who can make me love a villain or root for an unlikeable anti-hero have clearly mastered the art of the character. Here's a list of my current favorite complicated villains and morally ambiguous heroes (and heroines!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">1. Lila Bard from A Darker Shade of Magic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even though pirates are usually the villain of the story, Lila is completely different <span style="font-size: x-small;">in more than one way. </span><b>She errs on the side of adventure and thrill, which can often lead to the wrong side of the morality spectrum</b>. However, when push comes to shove, she does she value in protecting the Londons and will help Kell keep the people safe <span style="font-size: x-small;">even if her success rate is a little bit iffy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">2. Holland from A Darker Shade of Magic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I could read a whole book from Holland's perspective. I still haven't read A Conjuring of Light yet, but in my opinion he deserved much more sympathy than he ever got.<b> His character is not purely villainous or benevolent, instead lurking in the area in between with complicated motives of survival and responsibility. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">3. Lira from To Kill A Kingdom</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It actually took me a while to figure out who was the real villain in To Kill a Kingdom. The villain all depends on whose perspective you are reading from, and TKAK masterfully plays with assumptions and fears. Everyone pretty much hates each other, with the sirens stealing humans' hearts and the humans not wanting their hearts stolen, so I actually thought that Lira was the villain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But, I was completely wrong and by the end of the novel I applauded Lira as one of the bravest heroes ever. <b>Her character development is so impressive, starting from the lowest point possible with literal human hearts buried in her room, to becoming an advocate for peace.</b> Her position as the princess of a malicious race kind of forced her into evil, totally blurring the lines between good and evil. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">4. Elias from To Kill a Kingdom</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even though I knew Elias wasn't a villain per se, there were points in the novel when his morality was questionable at best. He was not above murdering if it meant he was closer to his "good" endgame of killing all of the sirens. <b>Maybe his intentions to save humanity were in the right place, but his insistence on murder is a little terrifying. </b>In the end, he realizes that mass murder is not the right thing and his character arc mirrors Lira's developing values. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">5. Cardan from The Cruel Prince</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Honestly, I am still not sure what to think about Cardan. Is he crazy? Yes. Is he unpredictable? Yes. Is he selfish? Yes. But is he evil? I am not convinced that he is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As the youngest son, his moral development was stunted by being simultaneously spoiled by his rank and abused by his family. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He definitely treats Jude terribly, but he also has his moments of mercy and surprising likeability. <b>His sass and infinite supply of comebacks earns him a place in my top almost villains.</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">6. Jude from The Cruel Prince</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The world of the Fae is inherently morally ambiguous <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(a lot of murder, betrayal, and lying)</span>, so it doesn't come as a surprise that Jude has made the list. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She has her fair share of struggles with murder, lying, and plotting against an entire kingdom. <b>However, her motivations are intricate and cannot be simply explained in a system of good and bad.</b> She just wants to live her life, free from the fear that faeries rule with. The introduction of faerie magic complicates the whole system. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">7. Kaz (and his entire crew) from Six of Crows</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Technically, they are a band of thieves and criminals who operate a gambling ring. Technically the whole first book is centered on an elaborate heist. Technically, Kaz does not have a moral bone in his body. Yet, I still love each and every one of these rule-breaking, moral-defying vagrants. At the very least, they are not the lowest of the low, with the ending of the first book revealing a greater evil. But, does someone else's bad morals make yours seem good in comparison? At this point, I am too in love with their group dynamic to care that everything they do is illegal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">8. AIDAN from Illuminae</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I haven't even decided if AIDAN is a real person or not, let alone if he is evil. As an artificial intelligence system, you would think that the distinction of right and wrong is not relevant. I mean, people would never program an evil robot, right? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Despite everything he did, he honestly thought that he was right, even merciful. Like, that's messed up, but I kind of feel bad for him? If he was programmed that way, then he had no choice. Or maybe he did have a choice and just made the wrong one. Regardless, these are the interesting (and scary) questions that morally grey characters pose, and I love to ponder. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">9. Inan from Children of Blood and Bone</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know that this pick might be controversial, but I am only saying that he is a good villain, not a good person. He straddles the line and eventually falls on one side of it. But, his story arc follows his teeter-tottering between being a hero or becoming a villain. His arc (both ups and multiple downs) are complicated in ways that YA villains normally aren't. He has a backstory, concrete motivations, and his arc leaves room for potential hope (or devastating evil) in the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">10. Zera from Bring Me Their Hearts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In many ways, Zera reminds me of Lira. Both are sassy and their strength knows no bounds. Both are fond of murder <span style="font-size: x-small;">a little bit too much for my tastes </span>but ultimately have to face their own immorality. Zera's love life got complicated in a web of lies, magic, and betrayal, which apparently is my formula for a good moral dilemma. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Zera's character arc was hard to watch at times with her progression and regression, but ultimately worth it for the kick-butt Heartless that she owned up to be. I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book to she where this progression takes her. </span></div>
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<i style="font-family: "times new roman"; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Top Ten Tuesday is a list-based bookish meme hosted every week by the amazing </span><a href="http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/" target="_blank">Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. </span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b></b></i><i><b>What makes a good villain? Do you like morally grey villains or do you like a more black and white morality? Who would have made your list for favorite antiheroes? I would love to hear all of your murdery thoughts and opinions!</b></i></span></blockquote>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-26792274240031048002018-10-20T00:26:00.001-04:002018-10-20T11:22:00.539-04:00When Murder Disappoints | Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson<div style="text-align: right;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Truly Devious</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzHAqbLfx6Cf9DfetCLOvt6zpG8UypxCL5HAYdseiOAKqX1-WEbQKOIUQ1U1bzpTMrukwaTd8Nlu4FZoxzGwerHMw-OKopLEPFjjXOkmVv40tl7AcmP5uXd8K4gerfRgK6JtJ_nh6ENE/s1600/trulydevious.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzHAqbLfx6Cf9DfetCLOvt6zpG8UypxCL5HAYdseiOAKqX1-WEbQKOIUQ1U1bzpTMrukwaTd8Nlu4FZoxzGwerHMw-OKopLEPFjjXOkmVv40tl7AcmP5uXd8K4gerfRgK6JtJ_nh6ENE/s320/trulydevious.jpg" width="221" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Maureen Johnson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Truly Devious #1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published on January 18, 2018</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">416 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Young Adult, Mystery</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29589074-truly-devious" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUFRjHNNcw_AKexCD5SIexCGp8OwfHc7uyIg-DsOWguuACi7__9aakbW3OY3JoXB6nU1B87fkcrjktlZh2G0hUvgS9pM09APKBK-IIi8qa0KqSEDYcw2bGFiNHKto8Hzx0YomdExL4x0E/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. "A place" he said, "where learning is a game."</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym, Truly Devious. It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Review</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My favorite thing about mystery novels is pretending that I am a detective. I love picking up dropped clues and learning information along with the characters. As a reader, I feel like it is my duty to beat the main character to the punch and figure out who the killer is before I am told. What can I say, <b>I am competitive like that.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The problem with Truly Devious is that there were no breadcrumbs to follow, for either of the mysteries presented in the novel. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>In fact, t</b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>he whole thing about Truly, Devious is kind of ignored throughout the novel.</b> I was expecting a focus on the old case, with the murderer being the title and all, but there was only the smallest potential connection with Stevie storyline. Yes, it probably will be developed later on in the series, but I just didn't see enough of anything to hook me into the story. From the mention of murder and mysterious notes, I was hoping for the thriller of a Jack the Ripper story, <b>but what I got was v</b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>ague allusions galore, with hints and winks that something was going to happen without any payback.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I didn't buy the romance. It seemed random and thrown in for intrigue <span style="font-size: x-small;">(and maybe to distract from the fact that there really wasn't much of a mystery)</span>. I wouldn't even call it a romance as much as two people who kiss at the most inconvenient times ever. It was very physical, which isn't inherently bad, but I would have liked to see a relationship that more developed and less superficial. Alternatively, <b>I could have also forgone romance all together</b> in order to learn more about the mystery. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I liked Stevie's spunk and <b>the representation of her anxiety.</b> The difficult parts about anxiety, especially anxiety attacks, were not sugarcoated or ignored. <b>Her mental health was consistently addressed throughout the novel, </b>which I greatly appreciated. In addition to moving to a school for geniuses, Stevie also had to handle her mental health and a murder. I have to give her credit for that. She was a well-rounded character, even if she was totally single-minded. Despite the unorthodox setting and possibility of murder, <b>her personality shined through. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There was not just one cliffhanger, <b>but many cliffhangers.</b> The book ended without any conclusions whatsoever, like stopping in the middle of a movie. The ending was a brick wall that I ran into at full force--<b>the only thing I got out of it was a concussion and a lot confusion.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>While I enjoyed the uniqueness of the alternative perspectives from the past murder to the present murder, I still don't know anything about either of them. Alternating between time periods felt more grasping at straws in an effort to maintain a frustrating vagueness than an enlightening backstory. The titular murderer is no where to be found and I feel cheated of a satisfying conclusion.</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Would you rather have a super vague mystery or one that is easy to figure out? What are your thoughts about romance in mystery novels? Do you think it is a nice addition or a distraction? Have you read Truly Devious? If so, I would love to hear what you think!</i></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-629009840526125442018-10-12T16:14:00.000-04:002018-10-16T17:38:42.293-04:00The Beauty of Ridiculousness | Takeaways from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHfbJ3awQjRjmG02qn8ScDnWTDF-zPNPURXpqYhgETlicejUm8wZt6hSO_lY39V5NY0dsT-z2V8Z_PcCZIXLNLcYk5PcVNICYEGLvS44peW0IF-nqYwhkI30hO0FNziCZzq2IHpGC-dM/s1600/Copy+of+I+Promise+that+I+Still+Love+You.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHfbJ3awQjRjmG02qn8ScDnWTDF-zPNPURXpqYhgETlicejUm8wZt6hSO_lY39V5NY0dsT-z2V8Z_PcCZIXLNLcYk5PcVNICYEGLvS44peW0IF-nqYwhkI30hO0FNziCZzq2IHpGC-dM/s640/Copy+of+I+Promise+that+I+Still+Love+You.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">5 Takeaways is a feature designed to exalt books that deserve more than just a review. <a href="https://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/search/label/5%20Takeaways" target="_blank">You can see the other posts in this feature here. </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">This feature is specifically for books when I decide that a review was kind of pointless. Almost everyone knows about the book and you don't need another person screaming at you to read this book (no matter how amazing it is).<b> </b>It is a given that my review would never do it justice. Instead of convincing you to read it, I want to discuss what I got out of it besides a five-star review.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Hitchhiker's Guide is a renowned classic on multiple levels, but not on the dusty old level of Shakespeare and Dickens <span style="font-size: x-small;">(which I say with the most love possible, as an English major)</span>. It is a cult classic that has greatly influenced science fiction, including one of my favorite shows of all time, Doctor Who. Even though it isn't an academic classic, there are still a bunch of takeaways worth discussing <span style="font-size: x-small;">(in a fun way, not in an English class way, I promise).</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVF3E9fp6g-S__IvmVDf4J-p2ejwrfigcW44svEPTFT2f_LX6pjrAajiNOSF_0hmd-nXJmYp2lHaIUYsGxJs1vRNona2Xmvx7FbWX9Mo70S4qWk1M5RCzfxjLjvmbDZRSWsb103GKCHgo/s1600/thhgttg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVF3E9fp6g-S__IvmVDf4J-p2ejwrfigcW44svEPTFT2f_LX6pjrAajiNOSF_0hmd-nXJmYp2lHaIUYsGxJs1vRNona2Xmvx7FbWX9Mo70S4qWk1M5RCzfxjLjvmbDZRSWsb103GKCHgo/s400/thhgttg.jpg" width="263" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Douglas Adams</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published on October 12, 1979</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">204 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Science Fiction, Adult</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11177547-the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-the-galaxy" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQap2xSadoaiJcmI94hnamzv2N8Crxiy_jlIfNdvXx-7-WqnGlcO6jGelSqFkQacuehsQxeGS3wMlj8gYplhyphenhyphenDTShnRdARzAxJAOOC9TpgTytNBp63a66LmF2mzHY0HMepCdv6A6XLuk/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i> who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from <i>The Hitchhiker's Guide</i> ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">1. Science fiction can be funny</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I think of science fiction, I tend to think of time travel, space operas, and dystopians, none of which have a particularly light atmosphere. Not many people are cracking jokes when they are perpetually in mortal danger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, that is exactly how The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy approaches science fiction.<b> There is just as much humor as there is science,</b> which will appease even those most skeptical about science.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.” -The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are a fan of the humor in Andy Weir's <i>The Martian</i>, then you will love the voice and light-hearted tone in The Hitchhiker's Guide.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“And all dared to brave unknown terrors, to do mighty deeds, to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before--and thus was the Empire forged.” -The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">2. It's okay for books to be ridiculous</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not every book has to have a large purpose, attempt to solve all the problems of the world, or even obey all of the rules of mathematics and physics. By operating completely outside of the rules of human reasoning, The Hitchhiker's Guide <b>shows that ridiculousness is not necessarily something to look down on in a book.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is a freedom in its complete abandon of reality and comprehensible notions of humanity. Dolphins and mice are smarter than people <span style="font-size: x-small;">(and I think that I actually agree with him)</span> and the answer to all the answers in life is 42. Nothing makes sense, but there is <b>a beautiful irony is the senselessness.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.” <i>-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>It breaks the wall of disbelief and ventures into a new dimension where reality doesn't really matter--the only real thing is absurdity. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">3. The galaxy is big and we are never going to see all of it</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even though the thought of an infinite universe that is constantly expanding and will expand until the end of time provokes a sort of existential dread, <b>The Hitchhiker's Guide shows that the vastness of the universe is not something to be feared. </b>Instead, all you need a book (and maybe a towel) in order to explore the universe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This truly is a guide to the entire galaxy, transporting readers across all of time and space--</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">a guide to a galaxy of its own and a testament to everything that seems to be beyond human science and imagination. There are so many things out in the galaxy that we could never even imagine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is where The Hitchhiker's Guide <b>reminds me of Doctor Who </b>and the endless stream of planets that the Doctor adventures to. If I can't be the Doctor's companion, then I might as well take an adventure around the galaxy with Arthur Dent (who reminds me a lot of Capaldi), Ford Prefect (more of a Tennant), and any aliens that we happen to pass along the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">4. Humans aren't all-knowing or infallible</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nothing like the vastness of the galaxy to put your life in perspective. On one hand, HGTG highly values the individual while also ensuring that one person's ego doesn't expand to fill the entire universe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shots are taken at human arrogance, with the literal planet being destroyed in the first few pages of the book without humanity able to do anything to stop it. It was nice to read a book to put humanity in its place and doesn't assume that we are the best that the galaxy has to offer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">5. Irony is my favorite literary device (besides the pun)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Hitchhiker's Guide is based on some truly ridiculous propositions that are horribly ironic in comparison to how people see the world. The galaxy isn't run by humans, and the change in the power dynamic is rather hilarious. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The real difference to most of the science fiction I have read is that <b>The Hitchhiker's Guide doesn't take itself too seriously,</b> which gives it the opportunity to take full advantage of humor, ridiculousness, and irony. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Are you a fan of science fiction? What do you think about humor in science fiction? Have you read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Are you a fan of ridiculous books or do you prefer realistic stories?</b></i></span></blockquote>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-19509820501463865762018-10-01T13:14:00.002-04:002018-10-01T13:14:30.476-04:00As Summer Leaves | September 2018 Wrap-Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The seasons have finally changed and I am embracing the colder weather by staying inside with a cup of tea and a good book. Time is moving faster than the falling leaves and I am completely unprepared to say goodbye to September. I had forgotten how quickly time moves in college, with countless deadlines and sleepless nights making time a little too scarce. I haven't even had time to put up my Halloween decorations yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But, as months come and go, I just remind myself that we are a little bit closer to Christmas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am not in the business of holiday erasure though, so I fully plan on celebrating Halloween, particularly with some "spooky" novels. Even though I can't do full on horror (for books or movies), I am planning on reading books with more mysteries, ghosts, and witches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But first, let's recap what happens at Crazy for YA and in my life during September!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Posts I Loved From Around the Blogosphere</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Krysta @ Pages Unbound <a href="https://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/2018/09/14/where-are-the-realistic-male-characters-in-ya/" target="_blank">asks the important question of where are all the actually realistic YA boys?</a> (also, if you find any YA boys in real life, let me know where and when)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Aimee @ Aimee Always <a href="https://aimeealways.com/blog-engagement-tips/" target="_blank">shares majorly helpful blog engagement tips for both newbies and old pros </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Evelina @ Avalinah's Book Blog </span><a href="http://avalinahsbooks.space/discussion-enemies-to-lovers/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">discusses the problems with the all to popular trope of enemies-to-lovers romance</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Roberta @ Offbeat YA <a href="http://offbeat-ya.blogspot.com/2018/09/readers-quirks-peter-pan-syndrome.html" target="_blank">shares her unique perspective about why she reads YA</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Noura @ The Perks of Being Noura <a href="https://theperksofbeingnourablog.wordpress.com/2018/09/22/books-by-female-authors-of-color/" target="_blank">lists some amazing books by female authors of color, including reviews from bloggers around the community</a> (including yours truly!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Inge @ Of Wonderland <a href="https://ofwonderland.com/2018/09/26/why-you-should-join-the-bookish-games/" target="_blank">is helping to host revived The Bookish Games and gives all of the reasons why you should join</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I signed up as a spectator to watch the games from afar without fear of dying (at least I hope) and I think that everyone should consider being apart of this revival of a book community staple!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Blogging News</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Reaching 500 Posts</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This month, I had the great joy of writing my 500th post on Crazy for YA. And, in standard Tessa style, I made too much of a big deal about it. Along with some sappy thank-yous and self-reflection, I also constructed a timeline of the best (and the worst) posts in the history of Crazy for YA. It is definitely worth checking out if you are curious what some of my biggest regrets are. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Hosting my First Giveaway</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To accompany my 500th post, I am currently hosting my first giveaway! I am giving away one book of choice from The Book Depository, which mean it is INTERNATIONAL! The giveaway ends on October 6, so there is still plenty of time to enter if you like free books (which I know everyone reading this does!). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Pinterest</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This month, I have finally remembered that I have a Pinterest account for Crazy for YA and that I should actually update it. (In fact, I was inspired by <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/theuncorkedlibrarian/" target="_blank">The Uncorked Librarian and her amazing pinning abilities.</a>) I normally go on Pinterest for crafting ideas, recipes, and the occasional meme, but I also realized that it can be a fun way to interact with more bloggers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/CrazyforYA/" target="_blank">You can find me here on Pinterest</a> if you are interested in some bookish memes, cheesy quotes, and content from other inspiring bloggers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Post that I Wish Got More Love</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/i-cant-believe-that-i-am-writing-this.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVb_BrhebD73igmzw4QZe_qSGO8YMb0-WJEFs2lnrY3-Vh3mG5rhL4wZ1DwIOFwvIOR5iQks2ou_xEt0ci5AL_r-YtGGZsET_qUAc713g3vcKKMLIhU9uAV7EKmKQTaYUWDE2tB7g8zE/s400/Copy+of+BacktoSchoolTTT.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Really, all I want for you guys is <a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/i-cant-believe-that-i-am-writing-this.html" target="_blank">a chance to win a book of your choice from The Book Depository.</a> As a broke college student, I can't throw giveaways very often, so make sure to take advantage of this one!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Plus there are some pretty embarrassing posts on my timeline, if you are in the mood for a self-esteem boost or a good laugh.</span><br />
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You know you are a college bookworm when..<br /><br />--your breaks from assigned reading is more reading<br />--you try to sneak in a few more pages before class starts<br />--the library is for relaxation not studying<br />--you are staring at an e-reader and everyone else is staring at their phones</div>
— Tessa (@Crazyfor_YA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazyfor_YA/status/1041833875205484545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Book(s) of the Month</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzQnorGtN_ZjCZsc3QqyifkKaxKv5SXq_BZsJKFFuj-U6pmbMbXsHYDJQsP0jxQXGIQr7rRkAwxm34SPhrc-jdOWKx7HtSI6RPqTYlVGJOaEbLU23-1vpd2VmWVF5lYWPEO55Z9Tsq3o/s1600/psisly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzQnorGtN_ZjCZsc3QqyifkKaxKv5SXq_BZsJKFFuj-U6pmbMbXsHYDJQsP0jxQXGIQr7rRkAwxm34SPhrc-jdOWKx7HtSI6RPqTYlVGJOaEbLU23-1vpd2VmWVF5lYWPEO55Z9Tsq3o/s320/psisly.jpg" width="211" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsD1s54mRs8TmNUHNw_f92w1mRfdw6tsLpw4buclygmCvcPfUeRO_2mG1Qqg3S7Z1yyo2w1Ve2rCBvhpnOlw9iBcLXQGM6Shz-m3vW7zYkxWbuMmIUyKTF6xTKHpuUfQDQxWbkR_611xw/s1600/nocturne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="298" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsD1s54mRs8TmNUHNw_f92w1mRfdw6tsLpw4buclygmCvcPfUeRO_2mG1Qqg3S7Z1yyo2w1Ve2rCBvhpnOlw9iBcLXQGM6Shz-m3vW7zYkxWbuMmIUyKTF6xTKHpuUfQDQxWbkR_611xw/s320/nocturne.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This month's competition for the best book is a tied between P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han and Nocturne by Kat Ross. Both books earned solid four stars from me (<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/a-tapestry-of-culture-and-characters.html" target="_blank">see my review of Nocturne here if you are interested more in why it is so amazing</a>). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am planning on reading Always and Forever, Lara Jean soon, but I have to say that PSISLY is my favorite in the series so far.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Other Books I Read</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE4b0po_uDXdklGkvOc81GJ3SOJB5T0GgYKrg3bu4Mitmd-z_1e6xB0P1D3q4KOCgCjwouveBBufXLsdK_dzL9qrunLsSy2SebG0tAcMYzZRoDSaa-SFYwOOtRsE6wkWMJ_0MkTT0PuQ/s1600/tempest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="295" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE4b0po_uDXdklGkvOc81GJ3SOJB5T0GgYKrg3bu4Mitmd-z_1e6xB0P1D3q4KOCgCjwouveBBufXLsdK_dzL9qrunLsSy2SebG0tAcMYzZRoDSaa-SFYwOOtRsE6wkWMJ_0MkTT0PuQ/s320/tempest.jpg" width="198" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOoxhYFe8DWV8MHNhPp-kXU6d4QI_x3XIhTN-i-CrQGZsFTDXsqwVd68Pu9l3hm3iqogKLzZIZ41114XFhx4aLcmOvLHJKY5VslVB5Di1Lc3woOKGl7RD4R-EpR4031w9_u4jd7xd7rI/s1600/tatbilb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOoxhYFe8DWV8MHNhPp-kXU6d4QI_x3XIhTN-i-CrQGZsFTDXsqwVd68Pu9l3hm3iqogKLzZIZ41114XFhx4aLcmOvLHJKY5VslVB5Di1Lc3woOKGl7RD4R-EpR4031w9_u4jd7xd7rI/s320/tatbilb.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I read The Tempest for class and P.S. I Still Love You after I fell in love with the movie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Are you sad to see September leave or are you embracing the October vibes? What was your favorite book of September? What are you proud of from September? Have you entered my giveaway yet? If not, are you crazy???</b></i></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-38386124307620458062018-09-25T00:06:00.002-04:002018-09-26T13:02:40.320-04:00I Promise I Still Love You | Books By My Favorite Authors I Haven’t Read<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNoBwWC4j-jzPDQLvF5g3uyxhZcBAu_We8thL911dt3Fj_BzO4238m0FSUKPMwsmqvszlWn_ve_isu0ch_xlaG_OVfvlpL0FFDPjXF39GlG2chteeFGZ35dHguZel9ioN2i6nTw5hjRd4/s1600/I+Promise+that+I+Still+Love+You.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNoBwWC4j-jzPDQLvF5g3uyxhZcBAu_We8thL911dt3Fj_BzO4238m0FSUKPMwsmqvszlWn_ve_isu0ch_xlaG_OVfvlpL0FFDPjXF39GlG2chteeFGZ35dHguZel9ioN2i6nTw5hjRd4/s640/I+Promise+that+I+Still+Love+You.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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 <span style="font-size: x-small;">(a girl has to have high standards)</span> 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 <span style="font-size: x-small;">(or maybe three)</span> of their books yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fun fact: Most of these books<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2016/06/top-ten-tuesday-even-more-books-i-need.html" target="_blank"> can be found in my TTT from 2016. </a>Yes, my procrastination problems span years, not mere weeks.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfyPFV9YBsmMrMfqT0Sw_lqYooO2d90rmFWX7Ah4LjSg19ixmp1bwlhJo-tF2GWsh1hssfM0BKq3hKT8lyI1Au1g9hAMj9MjYMYDZnHreFLabwPjAa0uxPM5hT9k7I4rsBafHkVZ3R04/s1600/savagesong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsaZWDIdAF5N6CtSOhAj6cQRvMOYjXbQcAKSQjM9FAJ5FrbgdvcRK5RdzGXgHkFN1OmyNmkthaYvWy2m8jIv-hJl9VQK25KlNVUvEPkkbcK2xrX9CCe6-3e0N-mxsopmTmCq8_cooJ6Y/s1600/vicious.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_iePspGNZ3kkiLh9lfNXHTXL__AqfFoWain2zCfU9rC8hr46b7v-3mxKivH_H9M8i7YiVmVO1eafY_hVtaRZOhaxZXmj8yV-ohxS_znvoDtabEkI1wh1AMEWrk3y9BSSpjz6xL-xAWU/s1600/acol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_iePspGNZ3kkiLh9lfNXHTXL__AqfFoWain2zCfU9rC8hr46b7v-3mxKivH_H9M8i7YiVmVO1eafY_hVtaRZOhaxZXmj8yV-ohxS_znvoDtabEkI1wh1AMEWrk3y9BSSpjz6xL-xAWU/s200/acol.jpg" width="133" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsaZWDIdAF5N6CtSOhAj6cQRvMOYjXbQcAKSQjM9FAJ5FrbgdvcRK5RdzGXgHkFN1OmyNmkthaYvWy2m8jIv-hJl9VQK25KlNVUvEPkkbcK2xrX9CCe6-3e0N-mxsopmTmCq8_cooJ6Y/s1600/vicious.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsaZWDIdAF5N6CtSOhAj6cQRvMOYjXbQcAKSQjM9FAJ5FrbgdvcRK5RdzGXgHkFN1OmyNmkthaYvWy2m8jIv-hJl9VQK25KlNVUvEPkkbcK2xrX9CCe6-3e0N-mxsopmTmCq8_cooJ6Y/s200/vicious.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfyPFV9YBsmMrMfqT0Sw_lqYooO2d90rmFWX7Ah4LjSg19ixmp1bwlhJo-tF2GWsh1hssfM0BKq3hKT8lyI1Au1g9hAMj9MjYMYDZnHreFLabwPjAa0uxPM5hT9k7I4rsBafHkVZ3R04/s1600/savagesong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIfyPFV9YBsmMrMfqT0Sw_lqYooO2d90rmFWX7Ah4LjSg19ixmp1bwlhJo-tF2GWsh1hssfM0BKq3hKT8lyI1Au1g9hAMj9MjYMYDZnHreFLabwPjAa0uxPM5hT9k7I4rsBafHkVZ3R04/s200/savagesong.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. A Conjuring of Light , Vicious, and This Savage Song </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">by V. E. Schwab</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJAMz1GAx0vq2sv7NCun4H35vHU_PaQWKOPOY6iYuczCJj4ncChWuNm9IqpNL39tdS9lRatv54ZgGpNKg_hheJFPZwv2DLcdVqcd8Tag77R8IWchCjkSl-9jz4NspqJO1XdBURLBkwJOo/s1600/strangethedreamer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJAMz1GAx0vq2sv7NCun4H35vHU_PaQWKOPOY6iYuczCJj4ncChWuNm9IqpNL39tdS9lRatv54ZgGpNKg_hheJFPZwv2DLcdVqcd8Tag77R8IWchCjkSl-9jz4NspqJO1XdBURLBkwJOo/s200/strangethedreamer.jpg" width="133" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJKih2LUrFWRR1IWQ8H03IaPzH9xRxPzcL0FLYHhorRy8HdeoNSJWrEbzW5sYaIS3bwA8LnQg0l6d0mXfDvxrzjDlxIfZlzVYeR8dvpB-zhReuedRQfWYDqMmUeGnS6u4cHhGrs8EMl0/s1600/athousandperfect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="230" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJKih2LUrFWRR1IWQ8H03IaPzH9xRxPzcL0FLYHhorRy8HdeoNSJWrEbzW5sYaIS3bwA8LnQg0l6d0mXfDvxrzjDlxIfZlzVYeR8dvpB-zhReuedRQfWYDqMmUeGnS6u4cHhGrs8EMl0/s200/athousandperfect.jpg" width="129" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. A Thousand Perfect Notes by C. G. Drews*</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*Yes, I know this is Cait's debut, but she has been my favorite person since I started reading her blog, which has made her one of my favorite authors too. I am operating on an innocent until proven guilty stance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByaE4n_XTjb66zYjq_5dUHAzqFsrsrczdg98jl1KLj2rHnX0P6JuVWg_qxX0Qg1l6Bme9Q2bzcXX9WDOItd7RkGUXTcNLFbV8tllZTZQiZbRBG60pew73q9hDzpBAhGWkWSAhJy2CFwk/s1600/renegades.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhByaE4n_XTjb66zYjq_5dUHAzqFsrsrczdg98jl1KLj2rHnX0P6JuVWg_qxX0Qg1l6Bme9Q2bzcXX9WDOItd7RkGUXTcNLFbV8tllZTZQiZbRBG60pew73q9hDzpBAhGWkWSAhJy2CFwk/s200/renegades.jpg" width="136" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1SnWZxehhXeLrw7ACkV6qwGuiX0oQM037N0X3XxywGslM8u3V8i5ZGA8wPVRTiw8xCdA1_RIdWpnJ6BADvbfAhueIHFl00soDBZdJTAtvmM-wIqjGtZv5Ot0P4G9X5pfU1yEjSpEDX8/s1600/heartless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="304" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1SnWZxehhXeLrw7ACkV6qwGuiX0oQM037N0X3XxywGslM8u3V8i5ZGA8wPVRTiw8xCdA1_RIdWpnJ6BADvbfAhueIHFl00soDBZdJTAtvmM-wIqjGtZv5Ot0P4G9X5pfU1yEjSpEDX8/s200/heartless.jpg" width="127" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Renegades and Heartless by Marissa Meyer</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDmQDjrK5doRgt7YHg26knPDEpLWOVmds5Zw1yPS1Uhxo0YzZ0nwSq9fLWze2AdA02kOxGGbrhaJhGzioIyNl8As6HsbVG8XFcfbTJ_Ef3wU_wKZRZhuH0vfgyASuIOyIqRObNeQkg9c/s1600/blue+lily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDmQDjrK5doRgt7YHg26knPDEpLWOVmds5Zw1yPS1Uhxo0YzZ0nwSq9fLWze2AdA02kOxGGbrhaJhGzioIyNl8As6HsbVG8XFcfbTJ_Ef3wU_wKZRZhuH0vfgyASuIOyIqRObNeQkg9c/s200/blue+lily.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXISxcbe8s5asokY6nnKatZySmwQBWhHLbxcSpQc-9RLJ29RExtjqwsQ1tVXoOncwD5AOQMK27Yb-5ne1RcmEpcbxtKwiOswQG7re0KEtmhtf6nTK26gdFZQI175bl-rUJIPQEz2okYI/s1600/ACOFAS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXISxcbe8s5asokY6nnKatZySmwQBWhHLbxcSpQc-9RLJ29RExtjqwsQ1tVXoOncwD5AOQMK27Yb-5ne1RcmEpcbxtKwiOswQG7re0KEtmhtf6nTK26gdFZQI175bl-rUJIPQEz2okYI/s200/ACOFAS.jpg" width="131" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">6. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GhrCoRZLnyc_5-RRbypcLInp9kojWYj0ps9qM_pLR3yWr96GwDtZdc9PxdikpD_qUzHl5UeC4_nrddAUBAJZ9w-WIAGVaM00FxmixCGjCM1pAZvPy1FiBhzfsOPjnZ4vi1hKMJqEP6I/s1600/bloodofolympus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GhrCoRZLnyc_5-RRbypcLInp9kojWYj0ps9qM_pLR3yWr96GwDtZdc9PxdikpD_qUzHl5UeC4_nrddAUBAJZ9w-WIAGVaM00FxmixCGjCM1pAZvPy1FiBhzfsOPjnZ4vi1hKMJqEP6I/s200/bloodofolympus.jpg" width="131" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">7. The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCLxEywho_y9Zq_oJDskJqQ8jr3yvJcFXp2JWEd7Agf3k1FJnW_unQz8ZM_cvTKrxNxJxzED0EfGe7__BmCsKwQZRs4FoRVixHA58cHtkgy70oexyU8d7YX-2hVnURtmimHhS5yMo3mQ/s1600/solis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="298" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeCLxEywho_y9Zq_oJDskJqQ8jr3yvJcFXp2JWEd7Agf3k1FJnW_unQz8ZM_cvTKrxNxJxzED0EfGe7__BmCsKwQZRs4FoRVixHA58cHtkgy70oexyU8d7YX-2hVnURtmimHhS5yMo3mQ/s200/solis.jpg" width="125" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">8. Solis by Kat Ross</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qoMnossHeEPygUjldNTZYELmD5NDHOR_RRZGbGVcabjmGExA3YuYeN7wd9Dg-xXivSdJhH5BitIpenTvpyV7Qai_mI5AqaPe2yXR7KyOr9GmPN2A7pU7rP3C3T9afK2YeoNqcHBbYJY/s1600/crooked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5qoMnossHeEPygUjldNTZYELmD5NDHOR_RRZGbGVcabjmGExA3YuYeN7wd9Dg-xXivSdJhH5BitIpenTvpyV7Qai_mI5AqaPe2yXR7KyOr9GmPN2A7pU7rP3C3T9afK2YeoNqcHBbYJY/s200/crooked.jpg" width="131" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">9. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfASqfZ2zZnYC0fFcCUHNNULmsLd6i15iqR7h8ZzlV1JLo40i4wgcaPNAvpbYryku_MwuP9vSU8uu_xHFweCKeCRG3ZKbmGdMAoFCL1xc8paH-dliwn8BEVZbGeYqbPLqCU99qg4-oq4/s1600/badblood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfASqfZ2zZnYC0fFcCUHNNULmsLd6i15iqR7h8ZzlV1JLo40i4wgcaPNAvpbYryku_MwuP9vSU8uu_xHFweCKeCRG3ZKbmGdMAoFCL1xc8paH-dliwn8BEVZbGeYqbPLqCU99qg4-oq4/s200/badblood.jpg" width="131" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">10. Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Sharing is the </span><b style="font-size: xx-large;">Pin</b><span style="font-size: x-large;">nacle of Caring</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(you know that you loved the pun as much as you loved this post, so share both on Pinterest!)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZgZl3dZ6rgpjFXhz-uwgvYNYXDNmxwiy7kkWoxtpugq2ar3sUWwSkAgINjYrIUK_2ABz9wpuApTVNxWMwYpuUMsKp0ao8tX9Idydli3oz6hd18sKto9lERng38cRfuWeAnhF1FTW5Lc/s1600/Copy+of+Pinterest_BookSlump.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="735" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ZgZl3dZ6rgpjFXhz-uwgvYNYXDNmxwiy7kkWoxtpugq2ar3sUWwSkAgINjYrIUK_2ABz9wpuApTVNxWMwYpuUMsKp0ao8tX9Idydli3oz6hd18sKto9lERng38cRfuWeAnhF1FTW5Lc/s400/Copy+of+Pinterest_BookSlump.png" width="266" /></a></div>
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<i style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Top Ten Tuesday is a list-based meme hosted by the amazing </span><a href="http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/" target="_blank">Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. If the meme sounds familiar, it was formerly hosted by The Broke and Bookish.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>What books do you still have to read from your favorite authors? Do you procrastinate in reading books from your favorite authors? Have you read any of these books? If so, convince me to finally read them! Feel free to guilt me into reading them.</i></b></span></blockquote>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-25360849674799155182018-09-23T00:00:00.000-04:002018-10-06T00:09:12.002-04:00I Can't Believe that I Am Writing This | Celebrating 500 Posts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But, despite the never-ending pursuit of building the perfect blog, the process of writing, posting, reviewing on this blog has changed my life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, despite the obnoxious colors, middle school writing, and complete lack of design, I still haven't deleted any of my old posts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, read on if you want to see a timeline of Crazy for YA throughout 500 posts and six years!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> In the Beginning</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">11/12/12--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2012/11/introduction.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This was our first ever post that basically just announced our presence and explained our pen names. It can't be more than 200 words between all three of us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">11/13/12--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2012/11/city-of-ashes-this-is-second-book-in.html" target="_blank">First Review (From Me)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is the first review that I ever wrote for Crazy for YA and it doesn't make any sense. We posted my review of City of Glass (#2 in The Mortal Instruments series) a week before we posted a City of Bones review. I guess it made sense at the time with our writing schedule, but looking back I don't understand why we could not have switched them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">11/21/12-- <a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2012/11/whatcha-reading-wednesday-112112.html" target="_blank">First Whatcha Reading Wednesday</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This was our attempt at creating a weekly feature to announce our current reads (which ended up being mostly the same week to week) and the accompanying low quality graphic. Please ignore the fact that whatcha is not a word.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">4/2/13--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2013/04/clockwork-princess-reaction.html" target="_blank">Dual Review of Clockwork Princess</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This post has a special place in my heart because The Infernal Devices was one of my all-time favorite series, so much so that I copied Tessa for my pen name.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">5/6/14--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/05/top-ten-tuesdays-1.html" target="_blank">First Top Ten Tuesday</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Out of all the memes we have attempted, TTT is the most consistent (as consistent as I get) featured on Crazy for YA throughout the years! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">7/24/14--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/07/liebster-award.html" target="_blank">Liebster Award</a> (one of the last posts Cassia, Max, and I all wrote together)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">9/27/14--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/09/soundtrack-saturday-1-coldest-girl-in.html" target="_blank">Soundtrack Saturday with Cassia</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Cassia is really gifted with music and she was gracious enough to share that talent on the blog. Soundtrack Saturday was one of my favorite features, but I don't have the diversity of music to keep it up. (</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I listen to the same five songs on repeat all the time.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Maybe Some Progress?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">10/19/14--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/10/bookblogwrimo-2014-introduction-post.html" target="_blank">BookBlogWriMo 2014</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Our first blogging event and the longest streak up to that point of consistently posting every day (even posting twice on some days)! Events like this make me really miss having co-bloggers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">11/1/14-- <a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/11/bookblogwrimo-history-of-crazy-for-ya.html" target="_blank">An Old History of Crazy for YA</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this post I vehemently denounce Twitter. Like I vowed to never join it. I am sorry past Tessa, but you were judgy and short-sighted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">12/1/14--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-christmas-gift-guide-tag-original.html" target="_blank">Our Original Christmas Tag</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am quite proud of this original book tag and it kind of makes me want to do another. Plus, Christmas is my all-time favorite holiday, so I stayed true to myself at least.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">12/11/14--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/12/discussion-goodreads-choice-award.html" target="_blank">My First Ever Discussion Post</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Yes, it took two years for me to figure out what a discussion post was and to actually write one. I never said that past Tessa was smart, but at least I have caught on by now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">12/29/14--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2014/12/2015-book-blog-discussion-post.html" target="_blank">Quickly Followed by the Discussion Post Challenge 2015</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I somewhat failed with only like 12 posts, but I think that was pretty good considering my first discussion was only a month before the challenge. At the very least, I got my footing in the realm of longer posts and gained (some) control of my rambling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2/8/15--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-gif-tag.html" target="_blank">The GIF Tag</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When I discovered the joy of GIFs, to my pleasure and the misfortune of the rest of the Internet who had to wait AGES for all of them to load in my posts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3/5/15--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2015/03/discussion-my-thoughts-on-twitter.html" target="_blank">Joining Twitter</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Contrary to the hatred of Twitter that I ranted about before, this post explains my journey onto Twitter and, apparently, my complete change of heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Trying New Things</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">4/16/15--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-battles-fault-in-our-stars-vs.html" target="_blank">Book Battles | TFIOS vs. Looking for Alaska</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To this day, Book Battles is one of my favorite features to hold. TFIOS vs. Looking for Alaska is one of my most popular posts. Plus, I just like myself some conflict.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">6/21/15 to 6/27/15 --<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2015/06/crazy-for-summer-readathon-final-wrap-up.html" target="_blank">Crazy for Summer Readathon</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It was in 2015 that I started getting overly confident in my blogging abilities, most notably shown through the Crazy for Summer Readathon that I hosted. I loved every minute of it, but it was definitely stressful. That was the longest (and shortest, in terms of trying to get things done) week of my blogging career. I am incredibly thankful (even) for everyone who participated and dealt with my crazy challenges.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">9/15/15--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2015/09/classic-conversations-what-exactly-is.html" target="_blank">Classic Conversations</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Classics Conversations is a prime example of a feature that I just let fade into a slow, painful death. I started strong but I put so much effort into each one that it was hard to justify. Now that I am an English major at college, I want my personal spot of the Internet to focus more on the fiction that I don't get to read in class (even though I love the classics to death). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">7/4/16--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-i-conquered-mount-everest-also.html" target="_blank">That Post Where I Got Cocky and Declared that I Conquered my TBR</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No matter how confident past Tessa was, I did not defeat my TBR. Maybe I had it under control for a week or two, but now I am back to drowning in an ocean of unread novels.<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2016/07/how-i-conquered-mount-everest-also.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2/10/17--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2017/02/my-quirks-are-not-for-your.html" target="_blank">My quirks are not for your entertainment</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is one of the discussion posts that I am most proud of and I wish I could promote every day. I got pretty personal in this post, and it paid off with the conversations it sparked in the comments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">In Recent History</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">6/18/18--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-to-get-me-to-follow-you-on-twitter.html" target="_blank">Getting Cocky Again and Bragging About My Twitter Skills</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">8/10/18--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/08/maxs-most-anticipated-mini-reviews-with.html" target="_blank">Return of Max (momentarily)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With a lot of convincing, I got Max to make a brief return to the blog with a guest post of the books she read over the summer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Though, if you look close enough, you can still spot her in the comment section of some posts!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">8/30/18-- <a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-difficulty-of-seeing-space-without.html" target="_blank">My First Review Addressing Problematic Representation</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My review of The Raging Ones was the first review that actually scared me. I have written sarcastic, overwhelming negative reviews of books (even popular ones), but I never hesitated to post them. This one was different since I brought up a problem with the LGBT+ representation that I didn't see other bloggers raising. But, in the end, I am extremely glad that I posted it and talked about the issues with others in the community.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">9/10/18 -- <a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-pros-of-being-in-book-slump.html" target="_blank">Full Circle with Discussion Posts</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This chronology ends with my most recent post, and what I believe to be, the epitome of the evolution of Crazy for YA. I wrote about the perks of being in a book slump with sarcasm, (what I hoped was) wit, and passion. There was even a graphic banner and Pinterest graphic!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Bonus: My conglomeration of apology posts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have a bad habit in real life of apologizing in every other sentence that I utter. Unfortunately, that spread into my blog and I have a large collection of posts purely meant to apologize and promise to do better. I find it funny that some of them are only months apart, exemplifying my capacity for procrastination.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But in all seriousness, these apologies and promises show how difficult blogging is, but also how important. Despite taking breaks for months and months <span style="font-size: x-small;">and months and months and months</span>, I always come back. Please find some irony and laughter in this collection of false promises and guilty apologies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">8/24/15--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2015/08/organizing-my-priorities-but-not.html" target="_blank">Organizing my priorities</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1/2/17--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2017/01/excuse-my-excuses-story-of-blogger.html" target="_blank">Excuse my excuses</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">7/5/17--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2017/07/is-there-still-blog-here-on-my-absence.html" target="_blank">Is there still a blog here?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1/6/2018--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-mustering-of-motivation-new-year.html" target="_blank">Mustering Motivation</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">5/17/18--<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/05/april-wrap-up.html" target="_blank">Bouncing Back</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Giveaway!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(The giveaway has ended).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is no better occasion to host my first independent giveaway then at the end of my 500th post, right? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am giving away (1) one book of choice for (1) one winner up to a value of $20 USD from The Book Depository. The giveaway starts on September 23 at 12:00 AM EST and will run until <b>October 6 at 12:00 AM EST.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>A Couple Rules First About the Giveaway...</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. The winner will be randomly picked by Rafflecopter, and then emailed and announced on this post. The winner will have <b>48 hours</b> to respond with their book choice and address. After 48 hours, a new winner will be selected. I am merciful, but not eternally patient.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. You must be <b>at least 18 years old</b> to enter or have parental permission. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. This giveaway is<b> open internationally </b>as long as the Book Depository ships to you. <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/help/topic/HelpId/3/Which-countries-do-you-deliver-to#helpContent" target="_blank">Here is the list of countries they ship to.</a> Please note that the giveaway is worth up to $20 USD.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">4. <b>I reserve the right to disqualify dishonest entries</b> and entries from giveaway accounts. Basically, just do what you said you will do, or else you won't win.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a class="rcptr" data-raflid="989525773" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/989525773/" id="rcwidget_carnkbln" rel="nofollow"><b><span style="font-size: large;">a Rafflecopter giveaway</span></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Also, here is the obligatory thank you at the end of any celebration post. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I like to think that a formal statement of gratitude is not necessary because I try to show my gratitude for this fantastic community every day. I<b> don't want to just say thank you once, but all day, every day.</b> This community is too amazing for just words, you guys deserve action.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, think of every tweet, mention, and comment from me as a sincere thank you for everything that you do for the community, and more importantly, for me.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Do you delete old posts from your blog? How long have you been following Crazy for YA? What are you most proud of in your blog's history? Did you enter the giveaway?</b></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-8507841139179647252018-09-15T13:20:00.001-04:002018-09-15T13:20:25.591-04:00A Tapestry of Culture and Characters | Nocturne by Kat Ross<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Nocturne</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Kat Ross</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Fourth Talisman #1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">400 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published on October 14, 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Young Adult, Fantasy</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35836852-nocturne?from_search=true" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOI-lhKr-WB3cBDE9wTgBwvcxIB9ELwxxfE_1YTLgnall5VM21ZXwbLZZEWxjJVd55I1IblZ86dj83YcDjdC8FnHV6ZehiJraSKdDNLGjgly7sm0GF9ZQPRHIMi5R4jemwu0nOU1zB8NY/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">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.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nocturne, a wilderness of eternal night.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Solis, a wasteland of endless day.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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?</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So begins the first installment in an epic new fantasy series from the author of the Fourth Element Trilogy!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Review</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have been a fan of Kat Ross for years and years now, and if you haven't heard me raving about her books then I haven't been doing my job (or you should read my blog more often!). Nocturne is a new series spin-off of my all-time favorite underrated series, The Fourth Element.<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-midnight-sea-by-kat-ross-fantasy.html" target="_blank"> You can see my review for the first novel here</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My fangirling aside, <b>Nocturne is a good start to a new series in the universe that I came to love in the previous books.</b> The Fourth Element left off with a cliffhanger (which I will warn you is Ross's signature), but the action was picked up right off the bat with Nocturne. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The story launched off the foundation of the earlier books, which let it explore new characters and new settings.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nocturne is an expansion of the Fourth Element Trilogy, so we got to see different parts of the world and different characters. <b>This was both a blessing and a curse though. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On one hand, I got to see more of the rich world and culture that was only hinted at in the first series. I loved the unique focus on Persian culture in the first series, and the trend is continued through this series, but with the exciting addition of the Greeks.<b> Not only is the Persian culture infused in the plot, but also a new thread of Greek mythology was woven into the masterful tapestry Ross has created. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But, on the other hand, <b>the focus was shifted from my favorite characters to other stories.</b> T</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">he summary focuses mostly on Nazafareen, but her and Darius are only one facet of many stories being told. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A lot of perspectives and veered a lot from the characters who I loved in the first series. <b>I may sound like an obsessive fan whose OTP was being ignored (mostly because I am), but I still a little disappointed with the lack of Nazafareen and Darius in the new series.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Back to the positive, <b>I loved the new perspective of the "villain" from the last series who I managed to come to love</b> (which I thought was completely impossible). <b>His perspective complicated the story (in a great way) and showed the complexity of the politics</b> and relationships in this world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, my favorite part was the political and magical intrigue that made the stakes extremely high throughout the novel. Both the daevas and the humans are involved in political hierarchies, revenge plots, and power struggles that kept the action going. <b>There were a lot of moving parts that seemed completely separate at first, but in the end came together to create one large tapestry of magic, danger, love, and loss.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The cliffhanger at the end was a shot to the heart, but also a reminder of how invested I was completely invested in the plot and the characters. <b>Like, my heart was crushed and my soul enraged, but in the most beautiful way possible.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">In Review</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nocturne is the expansion of Nazafareen's world that I was hoping for. I sacrificed some time with Nazafareen and Darius to learn about new characters and conflicts, but the trade was worth it for the added depth to the plot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>If you are looking for a complex cast of characters and culture that will consume you, heart and soul, look no farther than this series.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i class="fa fa-star fa-5x starcolor"></i><i class="fa fa-star fa-5x starcolor"></i><i class="fa fa-star fa-5x starcolor"></i><i class="fa fa-star fa-5x starcolor"></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Let's Talk!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Have you read any of Kat Ross's books before? What is your favorite spinoff series? (I personally think they are a gift from the literary gods who take pity on us mortals, obsessing over finished series). Have you ever read a book about Persian culture? </b></i></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-64207818145199610972018-09-10T13:02:00.000-04:002018-09-18T21:45:12.244-04:00The Pros of Being in a Book Slump<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For those of you who are lucky enough to never have suffered through one <span style="font-size: x-small;">(please tell me your secrets), </span>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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, in the spirit of mercy for my mortal enemy, the book slump, I forgive its wrongdoings. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Grudges apparently aren't good to hold on to, so here are some benefits to being in a book slump. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">1. No more paper cuts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you aren't reading books, then you aren't getting paper cuts. This may seem like a relatively minor benefit, but your hands will thank you whenever you use hand sanitizer. There will be no hidden cuts that you suddenly discover when the burning acidity of soap or hand sanitizer touches it. Your hands won't be covered in bandages. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">2. No more stress about the fate of your beloved characters</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even if you read in a bubble bath with your favorite deliciously scented candle burning, reading is a stressful endeavor. Characters are always putting themselves in mortal danger <span style="font-size: x-small;">(or at least in danger of ruining your OTP)</span> and that kind of stress is why I have gray hair already. However, the best fix <span style="font-size: x-small;">(except for hair dye)</span> is to just stop reading. Book slumps are really a blessing in disguise so that you can stop worrying about how these fictional characters might ruin their lives next.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">3. All of the free time to catch up with TV shows</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With reading out of the way, you have all the free time in the world to catch up on Doctor Who, Brooklyn 99, or (insert your current show here). I find it hard to decide whether or not to spend my free time reading or watching TV, but thankfully, that decision is made for me during a book slump. If all the books I read disappoint me, then I have nowhere to turn to except Netflix.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">4. Don't have to worry about writing reviews</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If I am not reading, then I obviously don't have to worry about writing reviews. There isn't a backlog of books that I have to review or anything stressful like that. My blog will be as nonexistent as my passion for reading during a slump, but at least I have Netflix to fall back on (see #3).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">5. Your backpack is now a thousand pounds lighter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now that the sight of my TBR completely disgusts me, I don't have to carry a book (or five) around with me all of the time. I don't need the extra weight of 500 pages dragging me down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">6. Gain appreciation for your old favorites</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is nothing like a book slump to make me appreciate the books that I have loved in the past. I mean, in the midst of a slump it seems like nothing will ever live up to Children of Blood and Bones, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, or (insert your current favorite book here). Before a reading slump is truly over, I have to go back and re-read Harry Potter at least three times. Hating everything in the present helps you appreciate the good old times when books didn't suck.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">7. Spend more time loitering on the Internet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Instead of feeling guilty that you are doodling around on the Internet when you could be reading, you can revel in the fact that you don't have any obligations to books. Scroll through Twitter, wander around Instagram and spend hours in the rabbit hole of Youtube knowing that you don't have a book to finish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">8. Book slumps remind you how much you love reading</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know that this is in direct contradiction of everything but book slumps are paradoxes; they may make you hate books but they remind you how much you love reading. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Book slumps are so terrible because they take away our ability to love stories. The fact that you hate book slumps is really a testament to your love of reading. Your valiant efforts to escape the trenches of the book slump are a sign that your passion for books is still alive and kicking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We all know that books are worth the paper cuts, emotional stress and time, but we do have to be reminded sometimes. <span style="font-size: x-small;">Plus, everyone needs a mortal enemy, right?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Have you ever been in a book slump? How did you get out of it? What are your silver linings to being in a book slump?</b></i></span></blockquote>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Y_ObBoyThyV4X5wo9nLKXPLeXP1imDgk2stMAlLeiEivz-ShYsl149elUrVF2D-CYlvpyj7wtMnGgo5ym8czB-kU7UeohQjjB78629fQhsuX5XtCtgig_stgu1d6jvR1eeHFz_8b3j4/s1600/TessaSignature.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1334" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Y_ObBoyThyV4X5wo9nLKXPLeXP1imDgk2stMAlLeiEivz-ShYsl149elUrVF2D-CYlvpyj7wtMnGgo5ym8czB-kU7UeohQjjB78629fQhsuX5XtCtgig_stgu1d6jvR1eeHFz_8b3j4/s200/TessaSignature.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Y_ObBoyThyV4X5wo9nLKXPLeXP1imDgk2stMAlLeiEivz-ShYsl149elUrVF2D-CYlvpyj7wtMnGgo5ym8czB-kU7UeohQjjB78629fQhsuX5XtCtgig_stgu1d6jvR1eeHFz_8b3j4/s1600/TessaSignature.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Sharing is the <b>Pin</b>nacle of Caring</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(you know that you loved the pun as much as you loved this post, so share both on Pinterest!)</span></div>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-74613474815630552932018-09-05T04:00:00.000-04:002018-09-05T12:46:02.292-04:00Nothing like Novellas | Mini-Reviews of Books I Read to Catch Up with my Reading Goal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">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.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Every Heart A Doorway</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Seanan McGuire</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Wayward Children #1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published April 5, 2016</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">169 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Young Adult, Fantasy, Diverse</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25526296-every-heart-a-doorway?from_search=true" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJxOiI6oPZQ5Q5HU-iGzeD6mLFtIwxJUjPHx6d1AiZy5fX2fP4azMm79GhnFX7m-pef7dhvzEGtLiY944dz9JfMl75ogur_81pXmoZH_aiBHtvikKcS4hWHNislqfv8MzsEhGjcEv5-Dw/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978"><b>Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">No Solicitations. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">No Visitors. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">No Quests.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9917660787814802978">No matter the cost.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Every Heart a Doorway is an ambitious novel. <b>In less than 200 pages, it constructs a diverse cast of characters, explores several different worlds, and fulfills the expectation of a unique story promised by the fascinating premise</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I was worried that such a short novel could not do justice to the idea of group therapy for children who escaped reality into not-so-fictional worlds. But I was so wrong since, not only were the predicaments of the wayward children explored in their intricacies (which were all different for the children who all visited extremely contrasting worlds), but there was also a great murder mystery and subversion of stereotypes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some concepts are still a little whimsical without solid definitions, but I think that is just the nature of the story. For example, the worlds that the children fell into were generally categorized as either Logical or Nonsense. <b>The details of the distinctions were hazy, but that just added to the whimsy of the worlds and the impossibility of defining the undefinable.</b> One of the major messages was how these children experienced the impossible and had to reconcile reality with fantasy in a world that ridiculed them for believing in fantasy, whimsy, and the intangible. <b>The lack of concrete definitions for the "technical" terms for the fantasy worlds reflects the struggle that the wayward children faced when coming home.</b> They didn't have words for their experiences, and least not the realistic ones that the world wanted, so they were shunned by the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know that was a longer rant, but just the fact that I got so much out of the story is a testament to its complexity. </span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you are feeling a little wander-lost or think you were born in the wrong fictional world, then Every Heart A Doorway is the perfect book to satisfy the longing in your soul to escape reality. </span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The Freeze-Frame Revolution</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Peter Watts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(Sunflower Cycle)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published on June 12, 2018</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">192 Pages</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Adult, Science Fiction, Novella</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36510759-the-freeze-frame-revolution" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClR0eAL6m2mS5MSe44PLAVltT7vdY5u4uvIw0N4QJi_2lmQ2FMYe5-zj4H0w7KTELu1-NhCfjprnSmAQuUAi3J5YHs5Od9ChqcT93veGcqxRCXoNIF966sBw7KI1EDP8QbpzlUQnscuo/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">This book was provided to me from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">She believed in the mission with all her heart.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But that was sixty million years ago.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How do you stage a mutiny when you're only awake one day in a million? How do you conspire when your tiny handful of potential allies changes with each shift? How do you engage an enemy that never sleeps, that sees through your eyes and hears through your ears and relentlessly, honestly, only wants what best for you?</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span font-family:="" quot="" sans-serif="" verdana="">Sunday Ahzmundin is about to find out.</span></span></blockquote>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Just a little FYI, I would recommend reading Peter Watts short story Hotshot before reading The Freeze-Frame Revolution. <a href="https://rifters.com/real/shorts.htm" target="_blank">You can find it for free in his literary archives.</a></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Science fiction is full of paradoxes and I have a new one for you--imagine a reader who hates physics, chemistry and all other sciences but loves reading science fiction. That paradox represents me and my eternal struggle with sci-fi. I want to love them, but I also worry that I am not "smart" enough to get them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So, I usually prefer science jargon to be balanced with something else, like a sense of humor. For example, I could deal with the advanced theoretical space terms in The Martian because the crass and hilarious tone balanced out the dryness. Unlike The Martian, there was no unique voice to balance out the scientific lingo in The Freeze-Frame Revolution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Bear in mind that all of this is coming from a non-sciencey reader who has very, very limited knowledge of space, physics, and engineering.</b> Those of you who know more about space and enjoy exploring technical scientific fiction will probably love all of the jargon in this story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Outside of my preferences for jargon, I also struggled connecting with the characters.<b> I only feel as if I really know Sunday, with all of the other characters blurring in the background.</b> I do have to admit that getting to know all of the characters would be impossible considering the revolution only ran for a few days every century, but there was room for improvement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, Watts did manage to create an amazing human culture in space. These astronauts are lightyears away, in space and time, from the Earth that we know and their evolution in culture shows that. <b>I especially loved the incorporation of futuristic slang that made me feel like a hipster, knowing the slang from thousands of years in the future.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Not only was The Freeze-Frame Revolution an exploration of space, but it was also a philosophical adventure into problems that we can run into not that far in the future. Artificial intelligence has a large role, which brought up complications in the relationships between humans and smart computers. Then there were the ever-fun explorations of the end of the universe and human existence as we know it. <b>For a novella, a lot of large themes were developed and left me thinking way after the open cliffhanger ending.</b></span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Are you desperately trying to catch up on your yearly reading challenge yet? Do you have any recommendations for short books/novellas to help me finish my goal? Do you wish that you could stumble upon a magical world like the Wayward Children? (I have always been jealous of Alice in Wonderland and the Pevensies from Narnia for getting to visit other worlds, even if they were a tad dangerous).</span></i></b></blockquote>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-29522836094840410932018-09-01T23:48:00.002-04:002018-09-01T23:48:45.772-04:00A Bittersweet Tale of Summer | August 2018 Wrap-Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcHbW0HrQdpwXT3xq4l9ax03lnHTcHbhOdi3uPp0Ha0QjbRf0G62l3H82rbhBfjGkeg-4M45iYUPsBcWIimewq0Gvp8LyX95R_K_qGftdL2V2j-rZqgp7HCraAGrr6WyJ0hnCj0mNS7o/s1600/Copy+of+Copy+of+Milestones+and+Must-Haves.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcHbW0HrQdpwXT3xq4l9ax03lnHTcHbhOdi3uPp0Ha0QjbRf0G62l3H82rbhBfjGkeg-4M45iYUPsBcWIimewq0Gvp8LyX95R_K_qGftdL2V2j-rZqgp7HCraAGrr6WyJ0hnCj0mNS7o/s640/Copy+of+Copy+of+Milestones+and+Must-Haves.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Posts Around the Blogosphere that I Loved</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sophia @ Bookwyrming Thoughts <a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/bookish-character-as-your-roommate/" target="_blank">makes the back to school transition better by imagining what it would be like to have a book character as your roommate</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight <a href="https://itstartsatmidnight.com/2018/08/do-other-reviews-bias-us/" target="_blank">discusses how book blogging has changed her views on books and the monsters that come with it</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Luana @ Book Storm Girl <a href="https://bookstormgirl.wordpress.com/2018/08/17/id-like-to-see-your-spam/" target="_blank">wants to see your spam and sass for an upcoming post that I am SUPER excited for</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Aimee @ Aimee Always <a href="https://aimeealways.com/book-blog-topics/" target="_blank">graciously shares a master list of book blogging post ideas (with a promise to keep it updated!)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books <a href="https://drizzleandhurricanebooks.com/2018/08/08/support-international-book-bloggers/" target="_blank">broke down the many ways you can support international bloggers (plus a list of even more great posts from international bloggers on the topic!)</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyssa @ Booked Shelf <a href="https://bookedshelf.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/sunshine-blogger-award/" target="_blank">answered my tough questions for the Sunshine Blogger Award. </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Blogging News</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Little blog improvements</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For the first time in forever, I adventured into the jungle of HTML and CSS to fix a few (minor) things that have been bothering me. The tweaks are so minor that most of you probably didn't notice, but I am extremely proud of them. For starters, I changed the color of my links from blue to a teal. It's not a dramatic shift, but I think it brings the color scheme together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In addition to the aesthetic value of my new link colors, I have also added a widget to follow my blog posts via email subscription through Feedly. Check out the sidebar to the right or the link below to get updated by email whenever a new post is live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=blogspot/HaaBiE&loc=en_US">Subscribe to Crazy for YA by Email</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I also have some plans for other tweaks, like updating my profile pic, in the works for the upcoming months.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. 80% on Netgalley for the first time</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even though I hardly request any books on Netgalley (mostly due to an intense fear of rejection, but we can unpack that issue later), my ratio was never in the best place. I would always hover right above the 70% mark, within grasp of the coveted 80%, but then a cool new release would pop up and my self-control would disappear. But, I managed to post three Netgalley reviews this month and brought my total up to 81%. I know that the next book that I inevitably request will bring me back down from that percentage, but I am going to take advantage of my success at least for a little while.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Back to school and its inevitable effects</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">According to previous patterns, the transition back to school never really goes well at Crazy for YA. I have less time and less motivation to blog due to the drain of schoolwork and extracurricular activities. I really don't want to lose the momentum that I have built up over the summer, but I would also really like to pass my classes. That being said, I am going to try my best to post at least twice a week and be active on social media (especially Twitter), but please remember that I am a student as well as a blogger. I love you guys and I hate to cut back on my time in the community, but it is necessary at the current moment to ensure my success in school as well as in the blogging community.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Things that I am Loving</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. To All the Boys I've Loved Before (The Movie)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Before discussing this brilliant movie, I would like to give the shameful caveat that I have not read the book yet. The book is on the top of my September TBR (along with Crazy Rich Asians) so that I can properly fangirl about Peter Kavinsky and Lara Jean, plus figure out what this whole cliffhanger ending was about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That being said, you definitely don't have to read the book to enjoy the movie. I am always in favor of reading the novel, but you could easily convince some of your non-bookish friends to watch this movie with you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There will be a full blog post dedicated to the insane cuteness of this story, but I don't feel like I can do it justice without actually reading the book first.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Brooklyn 99</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After finishing The Office for the third time and Parks and Recreation for the second time, I was desperate for a new comedy TV series. Not that reruns of either show will ever get old, but I need some new material to get me to laugh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Thankfully, Brooklyn 99 (available on Hulu) is exactly what I need. The humor reminds me a lot of Psych and the police station setting reminds me strangely of The Office. I love all of the characters and how I feel like I know all of them even after just finishing the first season. Whoever wanted to cancel this show was truly a monster. The humor is not offensive and the cast is diverse. Brooklyn 99 has everything I could ever want in a TV series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Tweet of the Month</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Me: *struggles dragging box downstairs to pack in car for college*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Parental: What do you have in there, bricks?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Me: It's books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Parental: There is no way that will fit. Do you really need them all?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Me: There is another full box upstairs. Get rid of the clothes if you have to.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">— Tessa (@Crazyfor_YA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazyfor_YA/status/1034635641869484032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2018</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Best Book</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At first, I just picked this book up because it is only around 150 and my Goodreads Reading Challenge situation was getting desperate. I knew it was popular a couple of years ago, but I just really needed a quick read to get Goodreads off of my back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, I ended up really enjoying the unique premise and execution of McGuire's story. There is magic, murder, mystery, and more depth that I ever thought possible for such a short read. There were many characters and many different stories woven into one book, but I never felt overwhelmed. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series, and not just to improve my Goodreads challenge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Other Books I Read</span></div>
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<a href="http://4evercrazyforya.blogspot.com/2018/08/fantasy-is-changing-for-better.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5vePd6SyS5aFQ-d_PJJr18VuN1fBYKNpFmTpqEY_NyV5XiSsK5Hj2D4rf8mbnXQwPQlG6yFbHb0k3gNZfxtDzAd2YUE74-di-lwZqoWpAcJrA9GfSTSwQqgU75Qyi6Q8Mcthju225_FM/s400/Copy+of+Stories+about+Stories.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I have been raving about Children of Blood and Bone since I finished reading it, but I knew that a review would not be enough to do this story justice. So, instead of screaming my feelings, I talked about my five takeaways (or "lessons") from Children of Blood and Bone. The true testament to a great novel, a life-changing story, is the lessons that it teaches you. Children of Blood and Bone is not only a great work of fiction, but also a perceptive mirror into society that works to undo today's chaos.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><i>What did you accomplish in August? What non-bookish things (music, TV, food, etc) did you love this month? What was the best book you read? Do you prefer dark chocolate or milk chocolate? </i></b></span></blockquote>
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Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-33160148936769830612018-08-30T04:00:00.000-04:002018-08-30T04:00:04.527-04:00The Difficulty of Seeing Space without a Telescope | The Raging Ones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Raging Ones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By Krista Richie and Becca Ritchie</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Raging Ones #1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Published on August 14, 2018</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Young Adult, Science Fiction</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdUWzKJ8EfXzDRTFl3a9srjb8gWPH8RfJhaI2GmERwjbh6wqiKwbAe8OOj3C8dQCWXqQRQT-ZvLZZddT0oeTdIW38DXisJ_QZIxdDEJN4O5TwOEK1nvzW31qPZTT19X7lcnHZIrS52sU/s1600/Goodreads.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="600" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdUWzKJ8EfXzDRTFl3a9srjb8gWPH8RfJhaI2GmERwjbh6wqiKwbAe8OOj3C8dQCWXqQRQT-ZvLZZddT0oeTdIW38DXisJ_QZIxdDEJN4O5TwOEK1nvzW31qPZTT19X7lcnHZIrS52sU/s200/Goodreads.png" width="200" /></a><br />
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<i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">This book was provided to me from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Until the day she does. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions connect with Franny. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With the threat of people learning they’ve dodged their deathdays, they must flee their planet to survive. But to do so, all three will have to hide their shared bond as they vie for a highly sought after spot in the newest mission to space. Against thousands of people far smarter, who’ll live longer, and never fear death the way that they do.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Space is cool. Now that humans have discovered telescopes and astronomy, it is a lot easier and more rewarding to admire the stars. Before this technology, space was mysterious, but also confusing. Imagine being alive centuries ago when there weren't scientific explanation for eclipses or meteor showers. The sky darkened during the day and rained light at night without any warning or explanation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In some ways, The Raging Ones brings me back to those days when we knew nothing about our own solar system. <b>The Raging Ones is a night sky full of shining stars, but there isn't a telescope to help the reader understand what is going on. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I could see the appeal of the world and its uniqueness, but I still have no idea why or how it came to be. <b>There was beauty in the galactic setting, but no details. </b>There was no explanation for the crucial "link" that is even highlighted in the synopsis. I still have no idea what to make of it. Not to mention that everyone knew exactly when they were going to die, but we don't know why/how/who/where.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Outside of the confusion with the "bond", the characters were good. The novel is told in three perspectives and <b>they each brought different worldviews and opinions into the narrative</b>. <b>I liked the contrast that Mykal brought to the voice</b>, creating complexities in the world with his kindness and dedication. Out of all the characters, I understood his motivations the best. I knew what made him tick, and that helped me understand the others when their POVs fell a little short.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Just like the world-building,<b> the plot was a little bit all over the place. </b>For the first half of the novel, I didn't really care about the characters' motivations. <b>I understood them as people but I didn't understand their goal, mostly due to the lack of information</b> surrounding the Saga 5 mission and the world in general. Every other word out of Court's mouth was about the mission, but I didn't get why it was so important, so I wasn't really invested.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">However, that changed in the last third of the novel.<b> Once they finally got to the competition, I was into the story, especially the ending.</b> The final plot twist seemed to come out of nowhere and I am still kind of confused, but at least something happened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My last hesitation with the novel was the portrayal of romance. <b>This is not the best representation of m/m romance. The book walks the thin between between representation and fetishization. The link made the romance complicated since Franny was more than aware of every romantic/sensual interaction between the love interests. </b>She felt whatever they felt which led to the reader "feeling" what they felt when they kiss/flirt. <b>So, Franny was like a surrogate for the reader to "experience" the m/m romance. The physical aspects of the bond were particularly emphasized, even in regard to sensuality. </b>Not to mention that the book was written by two women, which can be taken as a whole different issue.<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Instead of providing a telescope, a distanced yet comprehensive view of the romance, the novel supplied a microscope that gave a distorted view focused more on the heating up the reader than representing m/m romance.</span><br />
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<b>If the m/m romance was the selling point for the novel, I wouldn't recommend reading it.</b></span><br />
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<b><i>The world of The Raging Ones was intriguing, but the problematic m/m representation and the lack of world-building negated any promise for the new world.</i></b></span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Do you have any recommendations for sci-fi/fantasy with good m/m romances? How important is world-building to you in a sci-fi/space opera? Have you read The Raging Ones? If so, do you agree with me?</span></i></b></blockquote>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4009771804554431731.post-80779352891817247032018-08-27T22:51:00.000-04:002018-08-27T22:51:11.431-04:00Looking on the Bright Side | Books I am excited to read this semester<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigk3VHnWhLXZNmhpYg058OfKhvBga8-zp7niLyY0p56Eoyr4D3DpSc1dmmkSAtHGtoc6hR5V-ZZg31q7ygscJQp1HF4N60prWc5fB6mkZsJINYusb7veaGX3sIVKYN_7lSpqGbyevZZbg/s1600/BacktoSchoolTTT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigk3VHnWhLXZNmhpYg058OfKhvBga8-zp7niLyY0p56Eoyr4D3DpSc1dmmkSAtHGtoc6hR5V-ZZg31q7ygscJQp1HF4N60prWc5fB6mkZsJINYusb7veaGX3sIVKYN_7lSpqGbyevZZbg/s640/BacktoSchoolTTT.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though it comes the same time every year and I am fully aware of its impending doom, the start of the school year always surprises me. When I am in summer mood, it feels like nothing will ever harm me again (or at least make me do homework again). Alas, every summer comes to an end at the same time in August and I have to grieve my last of free time and freedom. However, the great thing about college is the opportunity to pick your own classes, and being an English major, my classes mostly revolve around my passion, literature. So, in an attempt to look on the bright side, I am going to share the required texts that I am actually excited (or at least not dread) to read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. Run by Anne Patchett</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am reading this book for a class on literature, film, and stereotypes in America. I am not sure how this book contributes to those topics, but it is one of the few modern fiction books on my syllabi this semester and I am excited to read a story instead of a textbook.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have read Frankenstein more than once for school and it turns out that I am reading it again this semester (and writing a final paper on it). On the bright side, I really love the complexity of the story and the infinite possibilities for analyzing the story. Not to mention the props I have to give to Mary Shelley for practically inventing the science fiction genre as a teenage girl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3. Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I read Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut last semester and I liked it. I still don't feel like I fully understood all of the complexities, but I did appreciate the absurdities and philosophical journeys the book took me on. I have high hopes for Hocus Pocus mostly for the title, but also for my experiences with the enjoyable confusion that was Cat's Cradle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. America on Film by Benshoff and Griffin</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the textbook for my aforementioned class on film. I know that it is a textbook, but the material is still really interesting to me (compared to the horrors of a physics textbook or a history tome). I have taken a few classes in the past that analyzed film, but I have never done it only in the context of American history and tensions. Plus, part of the homework is watching movies, so I am up for it!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBPV0TYkOREBasMpFJfex_mBTIG6V1xZF-OmHVFF9nGFRzUq_jNjkN42DNK0HlXPlUytTzovE42ifHxQT2FtKGLw5_Jm-O8sAffn6DN-G_ZIDAtTt139AMXcSBzZj6eomVIL5rlysciYk/s1600/BTSTTT2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="1518" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBPV0TYkOREBasMpFJfex_mBTIG6V1xZF-OmHVFF9nGFRzUq_jNjkN42DNK0HlXPlUytTzovE42ifHxQT2FtKGLw5_Jm-O8sAffn6DN-G_ZIDAtTt139AMXcSBzZj6eomVIL5rlysciYk/s640/BTSTTT2.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5. The Tempest by William Shakespeare</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know that Shakespeare is most high school students' nightmare, but there is some fun in the drama and rhyme for me. Again, I don't claim to perfectly understand Shakespeare and his pendant for flowery language and metaphors, but I do enjoy puzzling everything out. Discussions about Shakespeare have never done me wrong, especially when half of the class doesn't know what is going on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>6. The Awakening by Kate Chopin</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am not as excited to read this one as I am excited to have read it. I read her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, in high school and I appreciated the language and the feminist themes. From what I know about The Awakening, those feminist sentiments are continued in a ground-breaking way for the time period. I want to know more about the early approaches to feminism in literature, but I just have to get through it first.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>7. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This one is the non-fiction friend to The Awakening. I am reading them for completely different classes, but the feminist themes can easily be connected between the books. I have learned about Beauvoir in a couple history classes, but I want to finally read her work myself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>8. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once, I took a Buzzfeed quiz that told me if I were a character from a classic it would be Madame Bovary. Not going to lie, I am just curious to see what that means (especially if it is a good thing or not).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Bonus Books assigned by myself for myself (not on any syllabus but I want to read to enlighten myself)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>9. The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVzyOunQeyFPWQSj2DmYjZMWrlFiWFrfJOWPIWus0plnen88quL-zAy7S5PvgehJeWmbL0gjJFVQwUUoycxecTEx8ORxOwQXPksYWBr5_2YnZWlnJ173q2VStjIVsy-86azmpYAQvshy8/s1600/parable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVzyOunQeyFPWQSj2DmYjZMWrlFiWFrfJOWPIWus0plnen88quL-zAy7S5PvgehJeWmbL0gjJFVQwUUoycxecTEx8ORxOwQXPksYWBr5_2YnZWlnJ173q2VStjIVsy-86azmpYAQvshy8/s200/parable.jpg" width="129" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This one was recommended by John Green as one of the best dystopian novels out there. In pursuit of my goal to educate myself with more adult, literary fiction books, I want to give it a shot. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADpR_agnSe1b_nAwgUimNrAn2ySmn8rP4Zx-Tn8f2gcySg1tyAWMCW11yLtTtARYFECGwhwEqqVpRInB3upQxFblJYWY5AA89GdX3oFoete1wdUwyc-ZmB2ycq4Vg_H3ZEPOudcdzJok/s1600/race.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiADpR_agnSe1b_nAwgUimNrAn2ySmn8rP4Zx-Tn8f2gcySg1tyAWMCW11yLtTtARYFECGwhwEqqVpRInB3upQxFblJYWY5AA89GdX3oFoete1wdUwyc-ZmB2ycq4Vg_H3ZEPOudcdzJok/s200/race.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>10. So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I took a class last semester about race and diversity in America, but I know that I still don't understand nearly as much as I should. So, this is my attempt to learn more about approaching conversations about race outside of the classroom. I don't want my education about race to stop at just one class.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Top Ten Tuesday is a list-based meme hosted by the amazing </span><a href="http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/" target="_blank">Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">. If the meme sounds familiar, it was formerly hosted by The Broke and Bookish.</span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Are you going back to school yet? Or are you one of the lucky adults who has already done their time? What required reading texts have you enjoyed in the past? Have you read any of these?</b></span></span></i></blockquote>
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<br />Tessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05674560920184099297noreply@blogger.com0