Well hello Sunday my old friend. I hope today sees you all well! I had another awesome week; still busy at work, but really what’s new about that? I’m in the prep stages for the new school year; I’ve got four classes to create syllabuses for and prepare all my lesson plans, so that’s keeping me very busy. At least it’s fun, and I get to binge watch new TV shows while I plan!
Stacking the Shelves
Oooo aren’t they just so pretty?! I think I have an issue. But as I always tell my mom: at least it’s not crack. I had an unexpected tutoring job, so with the little bit of cash I earned from that I bought Volumes 1 and 2 of Attack on Titan (SO EXCITED) and Silver Shadows. What’s actually kind of hilarious is that I still haven’t finished the Vampire Academy series, but at least now I can binge all the Bloodlines books whenever I’m ready. I also preordered The Young World, since BN had it for 50% off and after I read the little sampler from the POP Culture event I knew I wanted to read the rest. While I was perusing the BN shelves on Thursday, I found this tiny little book called One + One = Blue. It’s about synesthesia. I just knew I had to get it, and ended up reading it that night! While it focused less on synesthesia than I had hoped, it was still a good book.
The other two books were a total surprise: my package from the Summer Box Swap came in, from my secret partner Kristen @ The Book Monsters! I was just over the moon when I saw Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – I’ve been wanting to read that book ever since I got into blogging more than a year ago! I also received All These Things I’ve Done (can’t get that Killers song out of my head every time I read the title); I’ve read one Zevin book before, so I’m excited to see if I like her other books.
A wee bit of bad news (in the bookish sense)… I had originally bought Let’s Get Lost instead of Silver Shadows, but ended up DNFing it. I only made it through the first story (Hudson’s), at about 75 pages, and then went back to BN to exchange the books. I’ll put up a post later on in the month explaining all my reasons why, but suffice it to say that I was SO disappointed, especially since I’d been beyond excited for that release. It was my most anticipated from the summer, and to see it bomb like that was kind of depressing!
In other news…
Want to know my absolute favorite tweet of the week? Possibly the year? Check it out:
https://twitter.com/novelsounds/status/494674491709353985
Need I say more?
It’s now officially ONE MONTH of going Paleo! I’ve lost a total of 9.2 pounds (Saturday weigh-in), and I’m still totally in awe of everything that’s been happening. The weight is a great side effect, but the best part is how I’m feeling: more energetic, and no more fogginess every day. Not to mention the fact that my acne is clearing up; I’ve never passed that puberty-acne stage, apparently, but this is a nice change to have clear skin. Another fantastic moment: my Harry Potter tshirt that used to be TIGHT (at a size L, or XL – can’t remember), is now way loose! It fits great in the shoulders (since I inherited my dad’s broadness), but billows out around my tummy. Excuse me while I dance for seven hours in happiness ^_^
I’m also seriously on another book ban. For the month of August. I can do this. Yes? Yes. The only allowance is Isla and the Happily Ever After, and possibly volume 3 of Attack on Titan – but only if BN sends out more coupons. The rest of my budget will first and foremost go to self-hosting! I’m actually really hoping that whole process will happen this week – I might be writing my next update as the brand new TTL!
And in more good news, my blogoversary giveaway ended Thursday night! I swear, that was the most stress-filled moment ever when I clicked the “randomize a winner” button. WHO WAS GOING TO BE THE ONE?? I was grinning so much when I saw the name: Marga @ Deadly Darlings! I haven’t known her long, but in the last few weeks I’ve had a great time getting to know her and chatting over books! And let me tell you – she has some fabulous taste in books. I highly approve of her choices in spending the giveaway money 😉 Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway and left comments on my blog; I’ve never felt so loved in my life!
In case you missed it, last week I…
- Reviewed Free to Fall by Lauren Miller (6 stars) – Oh. My. Gerd.
- Shared my top ten authors I own the most books from – this spurred on a reread of all 7 books from the Five Ancestors series
- Saturated Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games – my dandelion boy ❤
- Listed my best books of 2014… so far – it’s been a good year!
- Helped TM Franklin reveal the cover for the final book in the More Trilogy, Twelve – still loving the simplicity of the covers
What’s coming up this week?
- Monday – Review of OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu
- Tuesday – Top Ten Books for Readers who have never read contemporary
- Wednesday – Saturated Reads: Everything Leads to You
- Thursday – The 5 Stages of Book Hangover
- Friday – Review of There Will Come a Time by Carrie Arcos
Hope you all have a good week!
The Thousand Lives 
Lovely wrap up as usual. I definitely need to go on a book buying ban, but I always break it! Annoying! There’s just too many good books out there that need to be in my possession! 😉 I’m supposed to be reading Let’s Get Lost soon, so I’m intrigued to see what I make of it.
We’ll see how I do this time haha! I think it’ll be good; it’s really only Isla that I want that’s released in August.
So many books! I hadn’t heard of One + One = Blue, but it sounds interesting – I’ve only read one book about synesthesia (A Mango-Shaped Space) and I really enjoyed it. It’s too bad that it doesn’t focus as much on the condition as you had hoped, but I’m still intrigued. I hope you love Miss Peregrine’s Home as much as I did – it is wonderfully creepy, and the pictures work perfectly with the story.
Good luck with the new semester!
I’ve heard about A Mango-Shaped Space – I still need to get around to looking at it! That’s the one thing I’m concerned about with Miss Peregrine’s… I don’t do creepy very well xD
Thank you!
I hope you like The Young Worlds. XD I think it was quite awesome aaaand, I have to admit, I love the style it’s written in! Lots of slang and cool formatting. Ugh to book bans. I mean, I don’t buy much, but I do have to ban myself from the library. So, instead, right now I’m making a long list of books I wish I could/had/will read. It’s getting surprisingly long un-surprisingly fast. I have a lot of books I need to get onto. FAST.
I’m planning on reading it this month! I liked the excerpt I read, so I’m hoping that stays true.
NO more library Cait! You have overdrawn already!
I am waiting for my copy of Silver Shadows to arrive I really want to read it. I hope you enjoy the Vampire Academy series when you read it. I really enjoy both Vampire Academy and Bloodlines so far! That book about synesthesia sounds interesting, although i am sad to hear it focussed less on that topic then you expected. I read a book this month about a girl with OCD, I always find those kind of topics interesting in books, but there wasn’t as much focus on it as I hoped.
Oooh I hope you get it soon! Buying it has kind of urged me to finally finish VA – I just finished Spirit Bound a few days ago 😀 Almost time to start Bloodlines!
Which book was it? I haven’t heard of many with characters having OCD
HAHA. Thanks Kayla! I’m seriously surprised that I got picked. 😀 ❤
Okay. That tweet just became my fave, too! If you want someone to fangirl the series, I am always here. I just need to get my hands on Heir of Fire. THE. WAIT.
Aww. I'm so sorry that Let's Get Lost didn't work out for you! I thought it was a pretty decent read but now.. maybe I'll go rewrite my review. I think I rated it 3.5 stars. I totally get why you stopped on Hudson's part. *rolls eyes* The other people were slightly better…. I think? Anyway, I heard Bloodlines is awesome so maybe it's worth it. Yikes. I need to read that series soon! 🙂
Oh my god HoF is going to murder you Marga O_O I’m actually posting my review in two weeks I think; so much flailage.
I don’t know why, I just couldn’t stomach it. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood 😛
I really hope you love the Zevin book! It’s one of my favorite series! And yay feeling good and staying on budget 🙂
So glad to hear you’ve had a nice week, Kayla! Mine was alright and I spent the weekends sleeping in so bonus! Anyhow, I’m so glad you mentioned One+One=Blue was about synesthesia because now I’ll def check that out when I see it around! I don’t think I’ve ever read such a book! Any, I’m sad to hear you didn’t quite like Let’s Get Lost but I think I can understand that since I picked it up for a short while a few days ago and ended up putting it back down and resolving to just read it later.
I hope you have a great week ahead of you!!!!!! 🙂
Any day spent sleeping in is a fabulous day 😉
It didn’t focus on synesthesia a lot past the first 50 pages and last 20 or so, but it was still nice to read about a character that actually had it. The storyline was okay; but I just really liked the synesthesia aspect 😉
Glad you had an awesome week Kayla and that’s awesome about the weight loss! I don’t know much about the Paleo diet but that’s fabulous that you feel better and that it’s helping your acne! perhaps I should give it a try because I also have not left that stage it seems (hmm… and I’m nearly 30 haha). I hope you have an amazing week ahead 🙂
Thank you! I’d say I’m 95% Paleo, with a few exceptions. It’s grain-free, legume-free, and dairy-free. One website I read said, “if a caveman couldn’t eat it, neither can you.” So just lots of fruits and veggies and less preservatives and sweets 🙂
That sounds amazing!! Once you said that, I remember a good friend of mine actually tried this diet out. The caveman reference was what gave it away because that’s how he explained it to me!!! This is going to sound like an incredibly weird comparison but I can totally see how you feel better not having grains. I used to feed my cat food that had grain in it but did a lot of research and switched him to a completely grain free diet, only meat and I notice a major difference in him because of it as well. More energy, glossy coat… that’s weird to say isn’t it? It just goes to show though that I don’t think mammals are supposed to eat grains ?? If I only had your discipline … I love carbs. A lot.
Hahaha you and your book buying bans! So cute. I wonder how long this one will last 😉
Sorry to hear that you didn’t like Let’s Get Lost! That’s so disappointing 😦
I didn’t know you were thinking of doing self-hosting! That’s so exciting! I’ve been vaguely considering it, but honestly I think that I probably won’t do it anytime soon. I made the leap with my old blog and ended up regretting it…so I don’t want to go through that again. I think I’ll wait until my blog is at least 1 1/2 years before I do it, but I think it’s awesome that you’re going to 🙂
Well this month I actually don’t have the money past going self-hosted and buying Isla so I’m pretty sure this one will stick as I hate using credit cards xD
I’ll be honest and say that I’m a bit stressed… I started the process this morning and it’s just a bit overwhelming. I’m hoping to have it all sorted out by Wednesday or Thursday though! We’ll see how it goes 😉