August/September Book Haul [Book Haul #4]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another book haul! I didn't do one in August, because I didn't really buy many books in August. But with August and September combined, I think I now have enough to post a haul!

Books at Home

As you may know if you've kept up with my blog, I took a trip home to visit my parents in August. While there, I purchased a few books for nostalgia's sake, and left them at home because I'm not planning on re-reading them any time soon. But I decided that I should go ahead and show you what they are.

A to Z Mysteries:
Absent Author, Haunted Hotel, Missing Mummy, and Runaway Racehorse

 I absolutely loved this series as a child, and these four were my favorite. I found them at a used bookstore for pretty cheap, and since I've been collecting books from my childhood, I decided to go ahead and get them.


Magic Tree House Series: Midnight on the Moon

This was another of my favorite series as a child. I purchased book 10 (Ghost Town at Sundown) a few months back, and this one is my other favorite in the series, so when I saw it at that same used bookstore, I decided to go ahead and get it.

OK, now I'm going to move on to the books that I actually have with me!

Obligatory BookOutlet Order

Seriously, I've had a BookOutlet purchase on all of the book hauls that I've done so far. But at least I didn't go crazy with it!

Listen To This by Alex Ross

I bought two books by Alex Ross in this BookOutlet purchase. This one was a bit more of a whim. I knew I wanted his other book, but decided that I might as well get this one too. Alex Ross is a music historian, and while I'm not sure exactly what all this book covers, I do know that it covers a broad range of music history, including both classical/art musicians and pop/contemporary musicians. I absolutely love music history, so I felt the need to pick it up. 

Girl of Nightmares

by Kendare Blake

This is the sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood, which I showed in my last haul. I plan to read scary/horror novels in October, so I thought I should go ahead and pick this one up. Neither of them are extremely long, so hopefully I can get through both of them along with the other books I want to read next month!

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

I have several series on my TBR list, but this one is right at the top. I've wanted to read the Lunar Chronicles for quite a while. Scarlet was really cheap on BookOutlet, so it was a no-brainer.

The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross

As I mentioned earlier, this is the other Alex Ross book that I got off of BookOutlet. I know significantly more about this book, because I've already read 2 chapters of it for class. This book focuses on the history of art music throughout the 20th century, focusing on the most important composers and compositions. It's a little dense, but 20th century "classical"/art music is my absolute favorite and I love reading more about it. 

You Are Now Less Dumb 

by David McRaney

This book is the sequel to "You Are Not So Smart," which was the first book that I read this year. Each chapter of the book is centered around a certain theory or concept, and McRaney explains ways that your brain tricks you or ways that you're deluded into believing incorrect things. It's super interesting and McRaney has a really fun, witty writing style.

Used Bookstores

These were purchased at different places and in different times, but they were all purchased at used bookstores!

Clockwork Angel 

by Cassandra Clare

I read this book (the first in Cassie's Infernal Devices trilogy) in May and although it's my least favorite in the trilogy, it's an amazing book, and I only had it in paperback. I found it in hardcover for $5 and had to snatch it up. If you'd like to see my thoughts on the book, you can click here to see the post I did on it back in May.

Gone by Michael Grant

I got this one at the used bookstore while visiting my parents. I'd been eyeing this series for a while, but I actually kinda like the terrible original covers with the dramatic models more than the new covers. So when I found this original cover, I had to snatch it up! 

A Series of Unfortunate Events 

Book 13: The End

by Lemony Snicket

I acquired the other 12 books in this series in my May/June book haul. I wasn't in any rush to get this one, but since I came across it in the same used bookstore where I found Gone, I decided to go ahead and pick it up.

Full-Priced Purchases

I bought these at different places, but unlike all the other books in this haul, they weren't bought used or on an inexpensive site... so they're called the full-priced books.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

So, lately I've been in a reading slump. It's not that I don't want to read, it's just that I've been extremely busy, and in my free time, I just want to sit and do nothing. So, last weekend, I decided that the best way to get out of my slump would be to figure out what I'm in the mood to read and to get a single book that fits that perfectly and to read it. I had some specific ideas. I wanted something in one of my two favorite genres (fantasy and dystopian), I wanted it to be a quick, fast-paced read, and I wanted a stand-alone. I took to GoodReads, and came up with More Than This. I still have yet to start it, but I'm hoping to start it tonight. Crossing my fingers.

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

I pre-ordered this book because I was really intrigued by the premise. It's a horror book set in an Ikea-esque furniture store... and it's formatted like a catalog. That's just so incredibly intriguing to me. I'm definitely reading this as part of my October scary book month. So excited!

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

With all the hype surrounding the movie, I really wanted to get the book. I was also in a contemporary mood after reading Fangirl. I wasn't really in the mood for the contemporaries that I had, so I decided to get this and read it. I ended up getting into my reading slump before I could read it, but it's there on my TBR for whenever I feel like reading it.

So there we go, those are all the books I bought over the past two months! Hopefully, I can get out of this reading slump and actually read some of these books!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!

The Secret Lightning Scar Chapter 11 [A Harry Potter Fanfic]

Days turned into weeks, and I still couldn’t get up the courage to tell any of my friends my secret. I knew Dumbledore’s suggestion to tell them if I had another incident was more of a worst-case scenario and that he wanted me to tell them as soon as possible, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell them.

Dumbledore, however, did talk to Professor McGonagall, and she called me into her office only a few days after my initial discussion with Professor Dumbledore. She was uncharacteristically flustered, and it was clear that her world had been flipped upside down. I didn’t blame her- since June, she’d been living in a fool’s paradise, blissfully unaware that Voldemort was still alive. She gave me the same suggestions as Dumbledore- “don’t go looking for Voldemort”, and “for goodness sakes, tell your friends!”

But it wasn’t that easy. How could I sit down with my three best friends and tell them that Voldemort was actually still alive? The worst was imagining how Harry would react. He had spent seven years trying to rid the world of Voldemort, and thought he’d finally defeated him. But he’d only set him back a couple steps.

An entire month passed without me being able to tell them, and I found it very easy to convince myself that I had actual reasons for not telling them. With the first quidditch game quickly approaching and practices becoming more and more frequent, I found myself blaming my lack of courage upon the fact that I just “didn’t have any free time to tell them.”

The day of the opening quidditch match versus Slytherin arrived, and for once, sharing my secret with Harry, Ron, and Hermione was the last thing on my mind. I walked into the Great Hall with Harry, Ron, and Hermione and almost immediately locked eyes with Draco across the room at the Slytherin table. I glared playfully at him, which he returned with a small smirk. Today, we were enemies.

Ron was so nervous that he could barely eat, so breakfast was a fairly brief affair. Afterward, he, Harry, and I said goodbye to Hermione and headed toward the quidditch pitch. Draco, who was also leaving for the quidditch pitch, met us at the door and walked down with us.

“Ready to be crushed?” he teased as we neared the pitch.

“You wish, Malfoy,” Ron replied, clearly not in the mood for Draco’s taunting.

We reached our respective locker rooms and I turned to Draco. “Meet me out here after the game,” I said. Draco smirked.

“If I’m still talking to you,” he joked.

I rolled my eyes and he winked at me before we went our separate ways.

The next half hour before the game was spent stretching, warming up, and listening  to Harry’s pep talk. I had to try extremely hard not to laugh while he was giving the pep talk. He tried really hard to get as into it as Wood had back in our first few years, but he never quite succeeded.

Finally, it was gametime. We made our way out onto the field and met the Slytherin team mid-field. As Slytherin’s captain, Draco stood in front of the rest of his team. I thought that it was a little ironic that Harry and Draco would be facing off in their last match against each other as captains, but not quite enemies anymore. Around us, seas of scarlet and green filled the stands and loud cheering emanated from all around us. A section of the Slytherin stands were chanting their version of “Weasley is our King”, with a large section of the Gryffindor section chanting the revised version back at them. I looked to Ron for a reaction and saw that he was looking slightly green.

Madame Hooch asked them to shake hands, and as they did, Draco gave Harry a genuine smile. Harry half-heartedly returned the smile, but said, “Good luck.”

Draco raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You too, mate,” he replied. Madame Hooch didn’t seem to know how to respond to this out-of-the-ordinary exchange, but counted us off and blew her whistle.

All fourteen players shot up into the air and began gameplay. I weaved in and out of people, going after any bludgers that flew toward the Gryffindor players. There were a couple close calls where I hit it out of the way just in time, but overall, nothing terribly crazy happened. 

The chasers were more cutthroat than ever, knocking people off brooms, faking each other out, and blatantly elbowing the other team in the face. Once, Madame Hooch had to separate Ginny and a Slytherin chaser who had gotten into a fight and were about to hit each other.

Despite the aggression, the game continued fairly evenly. But it’s not a quidditch game without some crazy incident, right?

Gryffindor and Slytherin were tied at 70 when the speakers blared: “And it looks like the Slytherin seeker has found the snitch!”

I whipped around looking for Draco, and sure enough, he was speeding through the air, his arm outstretched. I wasn’t very far away, so I could see the little golden ball flying several feet ahead of him. Harry had been on the other side of the field and was flying as quickly as possible toward Draco.

At the same moment, however, I felt my stomach drop. A bludger was headed straight toward him, and if he didn’t change directions, it looked like he would get hit in the head. It was clear that Draco hadn’t seen the bludger, because he hadn’t so much as glanced in that direction. I looked around and saw that the Slytherin beaters were on the complete opposite side of the field, seeming to be stupidly unaware of the action, and not doing much of anything. Without a moment’s hesitation, I sped toward the bludger.

As Draco closed in on the snitch, the bludger closed in on him. I sped up, trying to close the gap between myself and the bludger as quickly as possible. In my peripheral, I saw Harry closing in on us as well.

The bludger was almost to Draco, but just before it hit him, I finally caught up and smacked it away with a large crack. Draco glanced backward in surprise, but only for a second, because he was just about to the snitch. Harry finally caught up, but he was too late. Draco gave one last burst of speed and wrapped his fingers around the tiny golden ball.

Cheers exploded from the Slytherin stands as Draco lifted the snitch high above his head. Seconds later, Harry skidded to a stop beside me.

“What was that?!” he yelled. His brow was furrowed and he looked like he was about to punch someone.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, taken aback by his sudden burst of anger.

“You just cost us the game!” he exclaimed. Before I could respond, he took off, speeding back toward the earth. Frustrated at how thick he was being, I darted after him. We landed only feet apart, but he refused to look at me as he stormed toward the locker room.

“Harry!” I yelled after him. When he ignored me, I began sprinting toward him. I caught up to him just as he was walking under the stands. I reached out, grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him around.

“What’s your problem?!” I exclaimed.

“My problem?” Harry bellowed back. “My problem is that if you wouldn’t have stopped that bludger, I would have gotten the snitch and we would have won!”

“It was about to hit him in the head! What was I supposed to do, let it?” I replied.

“Yes! That’s exactly what you were supposed to do!” Harry yelled. “In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s on the other team!”

“He could have gotten seriously hurt, Harry!” I exclaimed.

“And that’s what the hospital wing is for,” Harry replied. “We’ve all ended up there countless times because of quidditch!”

“Do you realize how incredibly insensitive you’re being?” I asked incredulously.

“I’m not being insensitive,” Harry replied. “You let your emotions cloud your judgment and you betrayed your team.”

“Betrayed my team?” I yelled. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“You helped the other team win because you had to go play hero and save your poor boyfriend from an injury that could be fixed in a matter of minutes! How is that not betraying your team?” Harry fumed.

“I can’t believe you!” I screamed. “I get that you’re upset we lost, but how can you blame me for not wanting my boyfriend to get hurt?”

“Are you even listening to yourself? You couldn’t bear letting Malfoy get hurt, so you helped Slytherin win! How does that make any sense in your mind? Two months ago, you wouldn’t have even considered it!” Harry said incredulously.

I rolled my eyes. “I knew it! This is more about Draco than it is about losing, isn’t it?” I exclaimed.

“It’s both,” Harry said. “You’ve let that git interfere with your life and friendships and now he’s interfered with quidditch too!”

“Because I like him! He’s changed, and I gave him a chance! And I’m happy! But the rest of you can’t seem to handle that, and that’s not my fault. I can’t believe we’re still having this discussion after over a month! I thought you had at least started to accept him,” I fumed.

“I never said that I accepted him. I told you how I felt. He doesn’t deserve you. And you’ve let him come into our lives and mess with your friendships. You side with him over people who have been there for you for years!” Harry argued.

“Because he’s a different person and you lot can’t just move on from the past! Why do you even care so much about who I date?” I exclaimed.

“Because I care about you! You’re my best friend! And I see that you’re making decisions that I think are becoming detrimental to your life, and I feel the need to tell you. I’ve been holding back for a while now, but I can’t keep doing it,” Harry said.

“I can make my own decisions about my relationships, Harry. If you can’t get along with Draco, that’s your problem, not mine,” I replied.

But then, Harry’s face changed. Up until that point, his brow had been furrowed in anger and he’d been red-faced. But then, he frowned and looked almost sad.

“If you’re going to prioritize that git over your best friend, then I don’t have anything else to say to you,” he said softly but sternly. He then turned away and continued walking toward the locker room.

Stunned by what had just happened, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. In all the years that Harry and I had been friends, we’d never had a confrontation like that. Had that really just happened? I set my Firebolt down and leaned against the stands for support, no longer trusting my legs to do all the work.

“Carrie? Are you alright?” I turned in the direction of the voice and saw Draco walking toward me from the field. He had his broomstick in one hand and the snitch in the other, and his face was flushed from all the excitement. He still wore a smile from his victory, but his face fell quickly upon seeing me.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” He said, rushing over to where I was standing. The tears began to fall from my eyes, but I wiped them away furiously. I hated letting people see me cry.

“I’m OK. I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, attempting to regain my composure. I stood upright again and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

“You don’t look like you’re OK,” Draco replied, the concern written across his face.

“Just give me a couple minutes. I’ll meet you outside the locker rooms,” I said. Draco nodded and I hurried past him toward the Gryffindor locker room. Fortunately, Harry had left already, so I changed quickly and splashed water on my face in an attempt to feel less gross than I actually was. After a few more deep breaths and more wiping away of tears, I exited the locker room to find Draco standing outside waiting for me. He too had already changed into his casual clothes, but looked much more put together than I did.

“Do you mind if we find somewhere to sit down?” I asked.

“Sure. I think there’s a bench under that tree,” he replied, pointing at a large tree several meters away. I followed him over and we sat down in the shade. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me to him.

“Alright, so what happened?” He asked, his eyes shining with concern.

“After the match, Harry yelled at me for stopping the bludger from hitting you. He said that I helped you win and betrayed my team and then went on a rant about how you don’t deserve me and that my relationship with you is destroying my friendships,” I said.

Draco’s eyebrows shot up. “I thought he was the one that was alright with us?” he asked.

“Apparently not,” I said. “We’ve never gotten in an argument like that. And then he said that if I was going to prioritize you over my best friend, then he didn’t have anything else to say to me. I don’t think he wants anything to do with me right now.”

“Well…” Draco began, “I can kind of see where he was coming from with the quidditch.” I shot him a look, but he continued on. “I’m not saying I would have done anything different if I was in that situation, but I could understand that he would be upset about what happened. Not to that extent, but I get it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I conceded, resting my head on his shoulder.

“About the rest of the stuff, however, he was being a bit of a git. But who needs him, right? You’ve got me, and you’ve got Ron and Hermione and all of your other friends. If he wants to decide to cut you out of his life, that’s his decision,” Draco said. At those words, I sat upright and looked at him with wide eyes.

“He’s my best friend, Draco,” I said in surprise, “I can’t just let him cut me out of his life after one argument. He’s too important to me.”

“But what if he doesn’t want you in his life because he doesn’t like some of the choices you’re making?” Draco asked.

“He wouldn’t do that,” I said vehemently shaking my head. “We’re too close.”

“Are you sure?” Draco asked. “He said a lot of pretty serious things.”

I thought about that for a second. “A few hours ago, I would have definitively said that I’m sure about that,” I replied. “I’m not so sure now. I’d hope that things haven’t changed so drastically between us in the last few hours that it can’t be fixed. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“Then maybe you should go and try to fix things with him before too much time passes,” Draco suggested. I frowned and furrowed my brow at that. I didn’t want another confrontation. Draco seemed to sense that and continued on. “I know you don’t want to face it, but if you care as much as you claim to, you need to go take care of it.”

I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder again. “I know. You’re right,” I replied.

“As usual,” Draco replied with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes and stood up to leave, Draco stood up as well and took me by the hand as we made our way back to the castle.

We walked into the Entrance Hall and Draco gave my hand a little squeeze.

“Good luck talking to him. Everything’s going to end up ok,” he said with a comforting smile.

“Thanks, babe,” I replied with a smile. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and we went our separate ways- Draco toward the dungeons and me toward the towers. As I made my way toward the common room, I felt my heart beating really hard, and I actually felt nervous to talk to Harry. I almost laughed at myself because of how ridiculous that sounded, but it was true. I was worried about another screaming match. I finally reached the fat lady’s portrait and took a deep breath before saying the password. The portrait swung open and I stepped through into the common room. As I walked into the room, the scene in front of me caused me to stop dead in my tracks.

Right in the middle of the room, on the couch, sat Harry.

And he was snogging Ginny. 

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I hope y'all enjoyed chapter 11 of The Secret Lightning Scar! Don't forget that the next one will be up later this month!

Previous section:  The Secret Lightning Scar- Chapter 10 [A Harry Potter FanFic]

Next section: Coming Soon!

The Secret Lightning Scar main page: Click Here 

We The Kings- Smile Kid

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: December 8, 2009

Genre: Pop punk, Alternative, Power pop

When I bought the CD: I'm pretty sure I pre-ordered it and got it the day it came out... but don't quote me on that. I know I got it sometime near when it came out.

Track Listing

1. She Takes Me High
2. Promise The Stars
3. Heaven Can Wait
4. The Story of Your Life
5. Rain Falls Down
6. Summer Love
7. In-n-Out (Animal Style)
8. Spin
9. Anna-Maria (All We Need)
10. We'll Be A Dream (feat. Demi Lovato)
11. What You Do To Me

We The Kings lineup on this CD:
Travis Clark- vocals, guitar, piano
Hunter Thomsen- guitar
Drew Thomsen- bass
Danny Duncan- drums

L-R: Hunter, Danny, Travis, Drew

About We The Kings: 
The four founding members of We The Kings grew up together in Bradenton, Florida, and formed We The Kings in 2005. They released their self-titled debut in 2007, and got their first big radio success with Check Yes Juliet. They've since released 3 more CDs: Smile Kid (2009), Sunshine State of Mind (2011), and Somewhere Somehow (2013). In 2011, Drew left the band and was replaced by Charles Trippy, a youtuber who was close friends with the band. Also in 2011, Coley O'Toole joined the band as guitarist and keyboardist.

My Opinion about We The Kings:
Back when their self-titled debut was the only CD they had out, We The Kings was one of my favorite bands. I had them probably in my top 3 bands (alongside The Academy Is... and All Time Low). However, as they continued releasing more and more music, I started listening to them less and less. Their music has become gradually more and more pop and less punk, and I just don't really care about their music anymore. I still really love the old stuff, and it's not like I hate the new stuff... they're just not as good as they used to be.

About the CD:  

Two fairly successful singles spawned from Smile Kid: Heaven Can Wait and We'll Be A Dream. And honestly, that's the only thing of note that I really have to say about the CD

IMHO: 
It's OK. I was really disappointed with the CD after their really great debut. There are some songs on the CD that I really enjoy, but the rest are just filler for me. And I honestly can't remember the last time I listened to any of these songs. Even the ones I like.

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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She Takes Me High- 9/10. I think this is a really strong opener. It's got a really fun chorus and it's really up-tempo and full of energy.

Promise The Stars- 10/10. I really enjoy this song. It's so cutesy and adorable that you can't help but love it. I dare you to try and listen to this without swaying/tapping your food/ nodding your head/etc. It's not possible.

Heaven Can Wait- 10/10. When I first heard this song, I got really excited about the CD because if every song on the CD was similar to this one, it would be super strong. Unfortunately, that's not the case, but this is classic WTK.

The Story of Your Life- 8.5/10. The chorus and bridge are really cool. The vocals and guitar combine really interestingly and I really like it. I'm not a huge fan of the verses though. If only the whole things could be like the chorus.

Rain Falls Down- 7/10. This suffers from the same problem that The Story of Your Life has. The verses aren't interesting, but the chorus is kinda interesting. But this one gets a 7 because both the chorus and verses aren't as good as those in The Story of Your Life.

Summer Love- 10/10. This song is just a breath of fresh air for me. This has the classic WTK sound that has been missing from a lot of this CD. And it's just so much fun. I really love this one.

In-n-Out (Animal Style)- 8/10. I'm seeing a pattern here. I really like WTK's choruses, but I'm not always a fan of their verses. I like the really cool effects in the transitions, but I wish the verses were stronger.

Spin- 7.5/10. Guess what? The chorus is strong, and the verses aren't! I love the lyrics in the chorus, as well as the guitar at the end of the chorus. But those verses... nope.

Anna-Maria (All We Need)- 6/10. I feel like this song doesn't really go anywhere. The verses aren't that interesting, and then they build up to what sounds like it will be a cool chorus, but it actually ends up being just about as uninteresting as the verses.

We'll Be A Dream (feat. Demi Lovato)- 9/10. When I saw that this song had Demi Lovato on it, I avoided listening to it, because that was the time when Demi was basically the Disney queen and I wanted nothing to do with that. When I finally listened to it, however, I actually really enjoyed it. And while my least favorite part of the song is the fact that she's on it, it's otherwise really great. And I generally don't like slower songs so that's kinda an accomplishment. The chorus is also pretty great and the harmonies are cool. Big surprise.

What You Do To Me- 6.5/10. The verses are pretty uninteresting. The chorus is slightly cooler, but I've never been a big fan of this song.

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Favorite Songs: Promise The Stars, Heaven Can Wait, and Summer Love

Least Favorite Songs: Anna Maria (All We Need) and What You Do To Me

Video! 

Heaven Can Wait music video (which is really hilarious)

Promise The Stars music video (possibly the funniest thing ever)

Rating: 8/10. I considered giving this a 7.5 because it's so all over the place, but when looking at how I rated other CDs, I thought it fit in with the 8 crowd. It's nowhere near as good as their debut, but it's certainly not a bad CD.


Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What are your opinions on We The Kings? Did you love Check Yes Juliet as much as I did?! Let me know in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!


ALSO: Apologies for the lack of a Secret Lightning Scar chapter on Saturday. It came to Friday night and I still hadn't written anything and I was definitely not in the mood to write. I have since started the next chapter, so it will be out as usual. I'm going to make up for it by flip flopping. This Saturday will be a new chapter of The Secret Lighning Scar, and next Saturday will be a new Tumblr challenge. Then, since this month has 5 Mondays, Monday the 29th will be another new chapter of The Secret Lightning Scar. So you'll get the exact same number of posts that you were supposed to get, they'll just be slightly out of order. Make sense? Cool. Thanks for reading! See y'all Saturday!

My Favorite Youtubers- Fall 2014 Edition!

Hey, y'all! So I've mentioned a couple times that I planned to get this post made, and it's finally happening. I'm turning these "favorite youtubers" posts into a series, which will be updated bi-annually. The first post was a little over a year ago, and the second was in January, so I'm way overdue for a new one. If you want to check out either of the previous posts, here are the links:

My Favorite Youtubers! (Aug. 2013)

My Favorite Youtubers (January 2014)

This will be formatted slightly differently than the previous posts. I'm going to discuss Youtubers that I really enjoy by category, and then I'll do the list ranking my top 25. Also, since I'm weird, I'll mention whether they're a returning favorite, or a newcomer. So, that being said, let's get straight into it!

British Vloggers

Danisnotonfire (Dan Howell)

3rd time on the list!

If y'all have seen any of the lists before this one, you know my deep-rooted love for Dan Howell. He's basically the male version of me. He was also #1 on both of my previous lists. I just love him a lot. 

AmazingPhil (Phil Lester)

3rd time on the list!

While I don't love Phil quite as much as I love his flatmate/bff, Dan, I watch him regularly. There are some youtubers whose new videos I have to watch as soon as I see them, and he's one of them. 

PointlessBlog (Alfie Deyes)

3rd time on the list!

Yet another 3 time fave! Alfie was one of the first British Youtubers I watched, and he's still one of my favorites. He's my age, so it's really cool to see someone my age being so successful doing what they love. And he's really funny... and adorable. I don't watch him quite as much as I used to, but he's still a fave.

Marcus Butler

3rd time on the list!

Kinda like with Dan & Phil, Marcus and Alfie are best friends and I usually favor Alfie over Marcus. Obviously, I still really like Marcus because he's one of my favorites, but lately I haven't been watching him quite as much.

Honorable Mentions: Jim Chapman & ThatcherJoe (Joe Sugg).

Non-British Vloggers

Superfruit (Mitch Grassi & Scott Hoying)

2nd time on the list!

So, if you didn't know, Scott (in the hat) and Mitch (the brunette) are 2/5 of the a cappella singing group, Pentatonix. They've been best friends since age 10 and they live together and have an adorable sphynx cat named Wyatt. I discovered that Superfruit was a thing mere weeks after posting my first favorite Youtubers post, so they missed out on the first one, but my love for these two is real. I eagerly anticipate each video from them, and have seen all of their videos many, MANY times.

MattG124 (Matt Gibson)

3rd time on the list!

This section was almost called "American Vloggers," but then I remembered that Matt is Canadian. Anyway, Matt posts videos twice a week- he has random vlogs on Tuesdays and Dare MattG on Fridays... there are almost 100 Dare MattG videos and I have seen almost all of those. It's also fun to see what hair color he's sporting each week because currently, his hair is all black, but his bangs are usually green or red or blue or some other fun color. On the first list, I'd just discovered him, so I hadn't watched a ton, but now that I've seen way too many of his videos, I can confidently say that he's a fave.

Evan Edinger

First time on the list!

I'm actually really surprised that this is Evan's first time on the list, but it is! I feel like I've been watching him for forever, but I guess not? Anyway, Evan is an American Youtuber who has been living in England for the past couple years, so I'm not sure that the non-British section is where he belongs, but that's where I'm putting him. He's really nerdy and he has the best terrible puns and dad jokes and I always love getting to watch a new video from him every Sunday!

Connor Franta

3rd time on the list!

I know a lot of people were really upset that Connor left O2L, but I was really glad about it. Honestly, I can't stand any of the O2L guys. But I love me some Connor Franta. He's not my absolute favorite person ever, but I do really enjoy his videos. 

Tyler Oakley

3rd time on the list!

Unlike many of the Youtubers on this list, I think I've grown to like Tyler more since my last post rather than falling out of love with him. I still wouldn't consider myself to be a Tyler superfan, but I definitely watch a lot more than I used to, and look forward to his videos rather than just being a casual viewer.

Honorable Mentions: Sawyer Hartman and Cyr (Vincent Cyr).

Daily Vloggers

Shane Dawson

3rd time on the list

I've been watching Shane Dawson for much longer than I've watched almost all of the other Youtubers on this list. I remember back when he had less than 20,000 subscribers, and I'll never forget Hodini's Street Magic. Too great. Anyway, I'm so happy for how everything has turned out for him, and I find myself watching his daily vlogs more than anything else he ever makes, which is why he ends up here.

Joey Graceffa

3rd time on the list!

Like with a lot of Youtubers, I don't watch Joey quite as much as I used to, but I still really love his videos. I usually watch his daily vlogs, but I also tend to really like his collabs, especially when he's doing a collab with Shane or one of my other favorite Youtubers.

SoundlyAwake (Nicola Foti)

3rd time on the list!

Nick (the one in the brown sweater) has several Youtube channels. His main channel is SoundlyAwake, which is where he posts weekly sketches/vlogs. While I enjoy those videos quite a bit, I generally find myself watching the daily vlogs that he and his bf, Ken, post on their second channel, StillSoundlyAwake. Lately, I haven't been keeping up with their videos, but that's partially because it's hard to keep up when people post new videos every single day.

Honorable Mentions: Lush (Matt Lush & Nick Laws)

Booktubers

This is a section of Youtube that I got into near the beginning of the year, but didn't get into them quite early enough for them to be included on the January list... but I've got my faves, and they're all down below!

Katytastic (Kat O'Keeffe)

First time on the list!

Kat was the first booktuber that I started watching on a regular basis. She was my introduction into Booktube, and I haven't looked back since. As far as reviewer trust goes, she's really high up on my list. We tend to have the same opinions about books and like the same genres, so I really love watching her book hauls and wrap-ups/reviews to get opinions and suggestions for what to read next. I also really love her tag videos. The only videos of hers that I don't really watch are when it pertains to spoilers about a book I haven't read yet.

JesseTheReader (Jesse George)

First time on the list!

There are some Booktubers that I watch because I want to get ideas for new books coming out or maybe to get opinions on a book I want to read, but I watch Jesse purely for entertainment. Jesse is crazy and hilarious and extremely fun to watch. We don't always have the same taste in books, or agree on how good a book is, but I always love his videos because of how excited and crazy he is in his videos. He's lots of fun, so that keeps it entertaining even if I'm not quite as interested in the books that he's talking about.

Peruse Project (Regan)

First time on the list!

So, fun fact- I actually went to high school with Regan! Also, I'm not 100% sure that her last name is common knowledge, because when I googled her using her first and last name, none of her Youtube stuff showed up. So just in case she doesn't want her full name out there, I'm not listing her last name.

So yeah, we went to high school together, but she was a year behind me so we didn't really know each other. The only reason I realized we went to school together was because I saw her youtube and she looked like someone I'd seen in the halls in HS and so I checked my yearbook, and lo and behold, she was there. I promise I'm not a weird, crazy stalker. 

Anyway, she's my go-to booktuber when it comes to fantasy. Regan is the queen of fantasy. I love seeing her book hauls and challenges and any tags that she does. Obviously I still trust her opinion about other types of books, but especially when it comes to fantasy. 

Ariel Bissett

First time on the list!

It actually took me a really long time to get into Ariel's videos. I was completely aware of her channel and had watched one or two videos, but for some reason, my interest just wasn't quite peaked. Maybe I watched the wrong video or maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. I don't know. The thing about Ariel is that she has a pretty different taste in books than I do. Her favorite genre is contemporary, and she finds it hard to get into fantasies sometimes. I read fantasy constantly, and can rarely get into contemporaries. However, it's not her taste in books that gets her on this list- it's her discussion videos. She often posts videos that make me think about my own opinions on books and authors in a deeper way than I normally would.

One example of this is that she posted a video a few months back pertaining to favorite authors and she said that she doesn't consider JK Rowling to be one of her favorite authors, even though she holds the Harry Potter series in extremely high regard. Because she doesn't feel obligated to go out and buy everything by her, she feels that she can't count her among her favorites, which is an interesting idea that I had never thought of before. 

Honorable Mentions: TheLittleBookOwl (Catriona), Ermahgerd Berks (Jamie), PadfootandProngs07 (Raeleen),  & Kassidy Voinche. 

Shows

Good Mythical Morning (Rhett & Link)

3rd time on the list!

Rhett and Link have been a staple in my life for quite a while now. I used to watch them every day, but in the past few months, I've been watching more like a few times a week, depending on how interesting that episode sounds. I still absolutely love them, I just don't have time to watch every single day.

The Fine Bros (Benny & Rafi Fine)

3rd time on the list!

Between their main channel and their React channel, these two pop up in my news feed many, many times a week, and I find myself watching either all or almost all of their content. I just really enjoy all of the react series, as well as all of the new series that they've started on their new channel. The only time I really miss a video is when they're doing something spoilery that I haven't seen.

Honorable Mentions: PBS Idea Channel

Sketches

Smosh (Anthony Padilla & Ian Hecox)

3rd time on the list!

I guess that sketches isn't really the right section for these two, but this is where they're going, because this is what their main channel is. I started watching them back in 2007 or 2008 and have been a fan ever since. Anymore, I don't really watch a lot of their main channel videos. I do, however, watch Smosh 2nd Channel (Previously Ian H) quite a bit. I think I've watched every single episode of Lunchtime With Smosh.

Jacksfilms (Jack Douglass)

3rd time on the list!

Jack does this great series on his channel called Your Grammar Sucks, where he reads/ makes fun of comments and posts that have horrible, horrible grammar mistakes. As a grammar Nazi, I absolutely love this series. I've watched every single episode of it, and it never gets old. Ever.

Honorable Mentions: Jenna Marbles.

Misc.

Smosh Games

2nd time on the list!

I continually watch more and more of their series. My favorite is Game Bang, where the six of them compete in video games, but I also like their Top 5 lists, Why We're Single, and Gametime With Smosh. Needless to say, I watch Smosh Games quite a bit. 

MassageASMR (Dmitri)

2nd time on the list!

Any time I need to focus, I turn on an ASMR video. I'd listen to music, but that's just too distracting. I also listen to ASMR videos to get to sleep. There are a couple I like (JustAWhisperingGuy is my 2nd fave!) but Dmitri is my go-to dude. He's got tons of great videos with and without talking, and it's great to listen to if you want to relax or sleep. He has a really soothing voice.

EmilyNoel83 (Emily Eddington)

2nd time on the list!

I don't watch a ton of beauty vloggers, but I do watch Emily. I usually trust her opinions on products and so I watch a lot because of that. I also love seeing hauls and such. Also, she does Drugstore a lot more than a lot of youtubers, which I greatly appreciate.

Grav3yardGirl (Bunny Meyer)

2nd time on the list!

She's loud, she's crazy, and she's absolutely hilarious. She totally embraces being really weird, and I love that about her. I also really love her "Does This Thing Really Work" videos. Those are my favorites.

WatchMojo.com

2nd time on the list!

This is a youtube channel that posts top 10 lists on a daily basis (sometimes more than once a day). They're usually entertainment based, such as the top 10 rock bands or something to that effect. They're not always super-interesting, but when I see one that looks really cool, I just have to watch it.

Top 25 Favorite Youtubers

For this, I did something a little different. I was having trouble organizing my thoughts on what order they should be in, so I made a bit of a chart with different categories and gave them points from 1-5 in each. Yes, I'm aware that I'm a nerd. Anyway, I didn't necessarily order them by the points they received, but I used it to help me out just a bit. I'll list the points the Youtuber got beside their name. There were 5 categories, so the most points a Youtuber can get is 25.

25. MassageASMR- 14 points

(previously #22)

He doesn't look too happy about dropping so many spots.

24. WatchMojo.com- 16 points

(previously #13)

Still smiling after dropping 11 spots... kudos!

23. Grav3yardGirl- 14 points

(previously #21)

She is unamused with this downgrade...

22. EmilyNoel83- 15 points

(previously #16)

Doing some deep introspection about why she might have dropped so much...

21. Marcus Butler- 13 points

(previously #8) 

Yep, Marcus, that was the same reaction I had when I realized that I was putting you this low, but it's where you belong.

20. Connor Franta- 14 points

(previously #20)

I get it, you're frustrated about being stuck in the same place, but you'll be ok.

19. Tyler Oakley- 14 points

(previously #19)

Yes, Tyler, I understand the frustration of not getting any higher. Sorrynotsorry.

18. AmazingPhil- 17 points

(previously #18)

Yeah, I know, I know, it sucks to get nowhere.

17. Joey Graceffa- 13 points

(previously #4)

Please don't kill me, fetus Joey. I still love you. Promise.

16. PointlessBlog- 14 points

(previously #7)

Don't give me that look. Being cute won't get you any higher on the list.

15. Shane Dawson- 14 points

(previously #10)

It's only a few spots, Shane. No need to rage. I still love you.

14. Ariel Bissett- 16 points

(previously unranked)

Hooray for making the list for the first time!

13. Smosh- 18 points

(previously #14)

One spot higher YAY!!!

12. SoundlyAwake- 17 points

(previously #11)

It's only one spot, Nick. I still love you lots.

11. Evan Edinger- 19 points

(previously unranked)

Yeah, IDK how you bad-punned your way into 11th place, but that's a thing that happened, and I'm OK with that. More bad punz plz.

10. PeruseProject- 18 points

(previously unranked)

Hooray, you cracked the top 10 on your first go!

9. JesseTheReader- 19 points

(previously unranked)

Yep, you flew right to 9th place. Good job, Jesse.

8. Katytastic- 19 points

(previously unranked)

So excite.

7. Jacksfilms- 19 points

(previously #5)

Slow clap for dropping 2 spots...

6. Good Mythical Morning- 19 points

(previously #3)

They dropped just a little, but I still love them.

5. Smosh Games- 20 points

(previously #6)

So excite about that one spot. Very excite. Much excitement.

4. MattG124- 21 points

(previously #12)

He's really excited about cracking the top 5.

3. The Fine Bros- 21 points

(previously #9)

They're just so excited about moving up a few spots.

2. Danisnotonfire- 24 points

(previously #1)

Yep, sorry babe, you've been dethroned. Still love you lots, but maybe if you would upload more...

1. Superfruit- 25 points

(previously #2)

Look how excited they are to be #1. I'm still absolutely obsessed with them. They're perfect.

So there you go, those are my current favorite Youtubers. I actually surprised myself with how far some of my all-time faves have fallen, but I just don't watch some of them on a regular basis anymore. 

What did you think of my list of favorite Youtubers? Who are your favorites? Do we like any of the same ones? Let me know in the comments! 

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