25 Facts About Me

Seeing as I have some new followers, I thought now would be a really good time to tell you guys a little bit about me, aside from the obvious. You know like, “I like books,” and “I have a blog.” So here are a few more personal tid-bits and things to know about me.

1.) My favorite TV shows are Doctor Who, Sherlock, Parks & Recreation, The Walking Dead, and Jane the Virgin.

2.) I love candles.

3.) I currently live in Hawaii and love it.

4.) I’m a newlywed Army wife.

5.) I have two cats, Rowena and Ruby, and a guinea pig named Dwight.

6.) My favorite snacks are Chester’s Flamin’ Hot Fries and edamame.

7.) I was born in South Carolina, but I consider Texas my home.

8.) I didn’t date anyone before my husband; he was my first date, boyfriend, kiss, everything.

9.) Some of my favorite movies are Treasure Planet, Atlantis, Pitch Perfect, How to Train Your Dragon, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

10.) My favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

11.) I’ve taken the Pottermore House test twice and got two different results: Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. So I’m a Ravenpuff.

12.) I’m a coffee person. I wish I liked tea but I don’t. I guess it’s an acquired taste.

13.) I have one sibling, a younger brother named Sawyer.

14.) Fuzzy blankets and other comfy things are my favorite.

15.) My favorite soda is Dr. Pepper.

16.) I don’t celebrate Halloween; my family has had a tradition for years of blocking off all the doors and windows and hiding in the very back of the house with a movie and some junk food so that trick-or-treaters won’t know we’re home. Surprisingly, this is probably the only tradition that my family has, and it’s for a holiday we don’t even celebrate. My husband and I intend to carry it on this year.

17.) ^ Actually, we have one other tradition: we open presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning. We’ve done this ever since I can remember and it used to make all our friends jealous.

18.) I used to have an imaginary friend; he was a mouse named Mousey, and he lived in the car vent.

19.) Some of my favorite artists/groups are Mumford & Sons, Twenty One Pilots, Taylor Swift, Owl City, and Imagine Dragons.

20.) I let someone borrow my copy of The Princess Bride a long time ago and I’m still bitter that they haven’t returned it.

21.) My perfect day is rainy, curled up in bed under warm blankets, cuddling with my husband, reading a good book or watching a good movie, eating pasta and ice cream.

22.) I don’t hate Twilight.

23.) When I was little, I was obsessed with Anastasia Romanov and I watched the movie all the time. I used to think that I was related to her and Anastasia was my great grandmother or something. As I got older, I did tons of research on her and did papers and reports about her, her life, and theories about her death. To this day I still think that the topic of Anastasia and conspiracy theories about her are incredibly interesting.

24.) I like to bake, but only during the fall and winter seasons, when it’s cold outside.

25.) I’m a pretty fun, outgoing person, but I’m also awkward and it might take me a while to warm up to you. If people give me the chance though, they typically find that I’m entertaining and they keep me around.

And there you have it! I’m a typical fangirl/geek and I like books. And I have a blog. The end.

Noteworthy Standalones

A struggle that I often find as a reader is standalones vs series. While I enjoy a good series, I hate having to wait for sequels to come out and ultimately, they’re a pain in my butt. I have to make sure they’re all the same editions and they’re either all paperback or all hardcover. I have to worry about covers matching and what they’re going to look like next to each other on my shelves. They’re way too much trouble. And sometimes, I want to read one book that I know is going to wrap up, and that’ll be the end of it. No cliffhangers, no need to wait for the rest of the books to be released; it’s all right there under one cover. It’s beautiful.

9780143567592One of the more popular, and one of my favorites, is by none other than John Green. The Fault in Our Stars has received mixed reviews, but I ultimately really enjoyed this book. John Green is always so quotable, and TFIOS is no exception. It’s a story about a girl who is fighting cancer and a boy who beat it, but also so much more than that. Green doesn’t always focus on the cancer-ness of our characters, but also doesn’t ignore it. It’s a theme, yes, but the love between them is central. The dialogue and characters are spot-on, and the book is has humor, heartbreak, and poignancy all rolled into one.

Siren_BookCoverA pleasant surprise for me was The Siren by Kiera Cass. After reading The Selection, I was so disappointed by the way women were represented in her stories. I hated that I hated every female character in her books, but I read The Siren because regardless, I still eat up her stories.

I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a beautiful, original, interesting story, and the relationships between the female characters was so heartwarming. For once, I didn’t want to choke all the characters in a Cass book! This was such an interesting, lovely read that I’m actually looking forward to picking up again soon.

71LkLmxqgjLThe next book is a popular Rainbow Rowell read: Eleanor & Park. It took me a long time to pick this up because I was skeptical, but I was so glad when I finally did. This was such a good, simple story about two very complex individuals who fall in love. They both have their struggles but they end up bonding over the things that make each other hurt, and I think that’s beautiful. At times, this was a really difficult book to read, and the ending tears my heart out, but I believe that in the end, the story is very rewarding.

1428026872053That’s not the only Rainbow Rowell selection I’m including here today. Next up is Fangirl, one of the cutest books you’ll ever read in your life. This is much more light-hearted compared to Eleanor & Park and has just a very sweet story. You’ll fall in love with every single character, and anyone who’s ever written or read fanfiction should easily relate to Cath, our MC.

16143347Next up is We Were Liars by E Lockhart, which is a mystery with a crazy plot twist at the end. I really loved reading this because while I love to try and predict the ending to these kinds of books, I love to be surprised. This book definitely surprised me, practically blew me away. It’s definitely worth the read, whether you liked the ending or not, and I’d definitely recommend this.

9781250050748One of my more recent reads was This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales, which I loved. I was surprised by this book as well, but was so happy to have finally read it. This book deals with suicide and thoughts of it in such a great way that I appreciated. I wrote an actual review of this which you can check out here, but ultimately, this book was incredible and heartbreaking and I would definitely recommend it.

The_Book_ThiefThe last standalone I’ll be mentioning today is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is such an important, wonderful, interesting book that I think everyone should read. It’s so cleverly and brilliantly written and completely enjoyable. The narration was spectacular, and basically I can’t think of enough glowing adjectives to describe this book. Definitely a noteworthy standalone.

That’s all for today, folks. Obviously, there are many other wonderful standalones, but that’s for another time and post. I hope that by reading this, you’ve found a new book to add to your TBR list or at least find that you have a few things in common with me. Mahalo!
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