My NaNoWriMo Prep & Planning: 2016

NaNoWriMo is finally upon us, and I am SO. EXCITED.

I've gone all out with my planning this year- planning specific writing times each day, making goals, planning rewards, making playlists, and creating writing triggers. And, since I've been doing so much planning, I figured I'd go ahead and share some of my plans with y'all. I don't know how useful this will be, given that I haven't even started NaNoWriMo yet, let alone won. But, here it is anyway.

I guess the best way to start is by talking a bit about my history with NaNoWriMo and my current project. So, my first year of doing NaNoWriMo was 2 years ago in 2014. That year, I worked on a novel that I've been working on for several years and I got 23,000 words before eventually giving up. I then attempted to do Camp NaNoWriMo in April 2015 and July 2016, working on that same novel, giving up both times after about a week and a half. So essentially, I have been a complete failure at NaNoWriMo every single time I've tried to do it. But this time, I want to be successful. Hence all of the planning. 

This time, I'm going to be working on a completely different story. It's not a new story, but it's one that I haven't touched in several years. I already had a pretty detailed outline written for this story, so I was fortunate enough that I didn't have to do much prep in that area. I do have a full video on the topic so I'll keep this description brief and leave it to video-Kristen to give you the more in-depth details if you're curious. Essentially, this story started out as a Jonas Brothers fanfiction back when I was obsessed with them. Over the years, I've replaced them with a fictional boy band, but the story still totally reads as a very cliche, dramatic Quizilla-esque fanfic. Despite recognizing that I can't really do anything with this story, I love this really ridiculous aspect to it and am really excited about it. Further explanations can be found in the video.

Goals & Rewards

So, I'm going to be basing my daily goals off of the typical NaNoWriMo goals. I'll be trying to write the full 50,000 words, so my daily goal is 1,667 words. I've set up both a planner and a tracker in my bullet journal to keep track of the times I plan to write and my daily/total word count goals. I have a schedule that varies from day-to-day, so I have certain hours specified for writing for each day of the week. For each day, I've scheduled 2 hours of writing time, divided into 1 hour blocks. As you can see in the below picture, there are some times I tried to keep constant, but there are some days when times need to be shifted. I've also added in the possibility of extra writing time, but as long as I focus and reach my hourly goals, I shouldn't need the extra time. In fact, I don't expect to need both full hours every day if I'm really focused. 

On the left are the times I intend to write each day, and on the right is my tracker, where I have daily & overall goals and where I will fill in my actual word count each day.

So now on to the rewards for meeting my goals. I've come up with many different goals to keep myself on track. I have goals/rewards for each hour writing, for reaching my daily goal, and for winning NaNoWriMo. I think these are super helpful to get you through even the days where you don't feel like writing. So I'll lay those out for you as well as why I chose those specific goals.

Overall Goal: Write 50K words & WIN NANOWRIMO!

Reward: PlayStation 4

This is something I've saved for for quite a while, but I'm only up to 2/3 of the price. If I win NaNoWriMo, I'm going to go ahead and splurge for it because I've wanted it for so long. Your reward certainly doesn't have to be so big, but it should be something that will really motivate you to succeed.

Now on to daily and hourly rewards. The big thing for these is that you don't want to choose something that would be overwhelming if you reach your goal every single day. For example, do you really want your daily reward to be Starbucks every day if you have to pay for Starbucks every day? To combat that, I'm using a point system for my hourly and daily goals. Essentially, there will be points attached to each goal that will add up in order for me to "buy" rewards. That way, I reward myself, but I don't have to spend a lot of money on the same things day after day. I don't necessarily know that this will work for everyone, but I think this will be a good method for me. 

Daily Goal: Write 1,667 words

Reward: 5 points

Hourly Goal (for each scheduled writing time): Write 850 words

Reward: 1 point

I made my goal per hour 850 words because that evenly divides my 1667 words between my 2 hour chunks. However, when I do sit down to write for a solid hour, I find that I write somewhere around 1200 words or more, so I have a feeling that it won't take me a full 2 hours each day to get my words, but it will probably give me a chance to get ahead for those days when I inevitably don't feel like writing. 

As far as the points, essentially it's possible for me to earn up to 49 points per week. Honestly, if I get 49 points in one week, I'll give myself a bonus 1 point reward because A- I'd be totally SLAYING NaNoWriMo, and B-50 is such a nice round number. I do have rewards set up at specific point values. For example, buying a new book of my choice is 35 points. So if I meet my daily goal every single day for a week (even excluding hourly goals!), I could purchase a new book if I so desired. But there are also slightly smaller rewards, such as ordering non-fast food takeout for 25 points. 

NaNoWriMo Playlist!

This is the first time I've ever put together a playlist specifically for a project that I'm working on. There have certainly been times when I found myself only listening to certain CDs or artists while writing a story, but I never planned in advance. So, it was incredibly fun to go through my music and compile a list of songs that I feel fit my novel. 

Since I first started this as Jonas Brothers fanfic in jr. high and since it takes place in high school, almost all of the music is stuff that I listened to during that time of my life. Some of it is stuff that specifically fits the tone/plot of my story, while other songs are just there for the mood that they invoke to me-- bringing to mind that specific period of time in my life that I associate with this story. 

Now, before you jump on my case and judge me for some of the music that you find on the playlist (*cough*HannahMontana*cough*), I want to briefly remind you that some of the music on this playlist is not music that I still enjoy and listen to on a daily basis. Very soon, it'll become a staple in my life again because of the mood it invokes, but it's not something I still enjoy. I didn't really want to add some of this music to the playlist but it was way too closely tied to that time in my life and to this specific story for me to not include it.

The playlist is embedded at the beginning of this section for your perusal and listening. I also have a second, smaller playlist. Every song on that playlist comes from this larger playlist, so there's nothing new on there. However, that playlist consists of the 10ish songs that I most closely associate with my story. I'm really excited about these playlists and want to explain exactly why everything was chosen but ya know, spoilers and stuff. And it would take forever to explain all of the 50ish songs on the playlist. But feel free to ask questions and I'll go ahead and link the second, smaller playlist down below this. 

Writing Triggers

Writing triggers are another new thing that I'm going to be trying out this year. I've known for a long time about how certain scents, environments, tastes, etc. can be used as associations for things. For example, if you study for an exam while smelling a certain scent, if you smell that scent again while taking the exam, it can help recall the memories of what you studied. Don't go using this as a way to barely study for an exam and think you're definitely going to do well, but it could be a useful study tool that you can try out and see if it helps with your memory. 

Anyway, my point here is that there are a lot of other things that this can be applied to. For example, if you write at the same place, at the same time every day and light the same candle and drink the same flavor of coffee, it helps to create an entire writing atmosphere and can get you in the mood to write. These type of things are writing triggers-- things that you purposely do while writing to help get you in the mood to write or perhaps even recreate the mood of your novel. Often, these are also things that you only do while writing, so that it forms a habit and association. (I'm not an expert in these psychological matters, but I was a psych minor in my undergrad so hopefully that gives you just the slightest bit of faith in me here). 

Like I said, this is something that's new for me. I typically write kind of wherever I feel like it. Typically, that ends up being my bed. However, for NaNoWriMo, I've decided to try out some writing triggers and see how they work for me. I've decided to do all of my writing at my desk in my room (pictured below). One bad habit that I have is that because I typically do basically everything on my couch or in bed, all of my actual surfaces (dining room table, desk, etc.) have just become places to pile my junk. So I did a total overhaul of my desk and now it's a completely clean area for me to work at. So far, I've sat down for a couple hour-long writing sessions and I've been able to completely focus and get stuff written.

This is also kind of where my playlist comes into play as well. I only listen to this playlist (as well as many of the individual songs) while writing, so that should also help to get me in the mood to write. Also, if I'm especially distracted, I will listen to ASMR videos to get work done, so those also help me to focus on doing work. If you're not familiar with ASMR videos, they are basically just people making sounds for relaxation. Some people think it's weird but I really enjoy them and they help me to focus. I've linked one of my favorites below in case you're curious.

There are a lot of other things that come into play here, like the writing schedule that I showed earlier in the post. Since I already discussed that, I won't get into it too much. I also don't have a specific drink or snack for while writing, simply because I don't like eating while writing, and because I'm using caffeine as more of a reward.. and pretty much all of my drinks are caffeinated. So I guess I'll be drinking some water. Energy drinks will be saved for after writing. 

The other writing trigger that I'm very purposely trying to work into my writing routine is a specific scent for writing. Because of that, I went ahead and got a few candles to try out. I've never been someone who used candles, but I thought it would be a really great time to try them out. I went to Yankee Candle for the first time ever (which was super overwhelming- there are like 150 scents. The sales lady said so). It was really difficult to figure out what I wanted, because I wanted to pick a candle that would fit my story. Since the story is a rather lighthearted story set in the fall, so I wanted to pick a scent that matched both of those things. Something cozy and warm, but sweet. I found 2 there and another at Target that I liked, so I went ahead and got the smallest size of each so that I can try them out and get a larger one once I feel like I can commit to one.

L to R: Autumn Gathering, Cashmere Woods, and Mountain Lodge

So... I think that's about it. I mean, it should be after this giant post. I just really wanted to make sure that I got everything in here, both for myself and for y'all. I'm really excited about NaNoWriMo this year, and I wanted to go all out in order to succeed. Let me know down in the comments what all you did to prepare for NaNoWriMo this year! Did you do lots of outlining and planning, or are you pantsing it this year? Do you have a reward system set up, and if so, what is it? Are there any writing triggers that work for you? Let me know down in the comments! Good luck, everyone! I hope you all have a great NaNoWriMo this year and I hope that you all win!

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April Series of the Month: Shatter Me Trilogy

Hey, y'all! It's that time again- series of the month time! This month, I ended up reading 6 books. The first 3 were all stand-alones, but the last 3 books were the Shatter Me trilogy! So, I'm just going to be talking about these three books, and I plan on doing a post about stand-alone books in the near future, so they'll be included in that! Also, if you want to see the books I've been reading, you can check out my Goodreads by clicking HERE.

As always, I'll give you a spoiler warning. If you haven't read the series, don't read this post! Unless you want to be spoiled... in which case, be my guest.

Shatter Me

Our main character is Juliette, a teenage girl who has been locked in a cell for 264 days because her touch is lethal. It's a bit hard to explain this one, but I'll give it a try. One day, she gets a cellmate- a guy her age named Adam. Then, not long after, she's suddenly dragged out of the cell and taken to a guy named Warner, who wants to use her as a weapon for The Reestablishment. Through all of this, Juliette is struggling both to fight back and to figure out how to be with the guy she's fallen in love with.

Much like most other reviews I've seen, I thought that the writing style was interesting. It's pretty much stream of consciousness writing, and so when Juliette thinks something and changes her mind, it's marked through in the text. I think it gives a bit more insight into Juliette's mind.

I feel like this book doesn't give a clear explanation of the world that Juliette lives in. It talks in detail about how the birds don't fly and how the sky is odd colors and that nothing is green anymore, but unless I missed something, we never get a real explanation of what exactly happened to cause this world. What caused all of these crazy things to happen? Clearly, The Reestablishment is the pseudo-government, but it's never really explained what happened to the real government or what exactly the conflict is... I just don't feel like we got a real understanding of the world, and that's a pretty big problem for me.

The plot... I hate to say "what plot?" but seriously, I didn't think the plot was very exciting. The book focuses so much more on the romance than the dystopian aspects, and while I generally am cool with romance in a book (it's typically inevitable), this romance took center stage a little too much for me.

That's about as much as I can say without spoiling anything. I gave it a 4 on Goodreads, but I may move it down to a 3. At best, it's a 3.5. I thought the romance was cute, which is why it got as high of a star count as I gave it.

Don't continue reading if you haven't read the book!

So, I already covered most of my problems with the book, but I'll talk more in-depth about them on here.

So, the almost nonexistent plot... Nothing especially exciting happens. Most of the time, she's basically just falling in love with Adam. They escape and go to his house, then they have to run away from the house. Then they get attacked, Juliette saves Adam, and they find this community where they will be safe. Not a lot happens, and it's a really short book. I just don't really think it was that special.

Also, how incredibly convenient is it that both Adam and Warner are both able to touch her? Wouldn't it have made it so much more interesting if Warner could touch her and Adam couldn't?... Ok, that would've made the plot more difficult to work out, but at least it would be a surprise.

Also, at first I was a bit annoyed with the whole romance. It was so instalove it hurt. But then when they started talking about how they knew each other when they were younger, I thought it was kinda cute. The romance was interesting, but I find it mildly disappointing when the romance is the most compelling part of the story.

Overall, I changed my star rating to a 3. I'd say that it's somewhere between a 3 and a 3.5.

Unravel Me

If you haven't read all of Shatter Me and you don't want to be spoiled, I'd suggest that you don't read any further because to talk about Unravel Me, I have to talk about some of the things that happened in Shatter Me.

Unravel Me begins soon after the end of Shatter Me. Juliette has just arrived at Omega Point and is working to try to understand her powers and fit in with the others. At first, everything seems to be going well, but a discovery could put Adam and Juliette's relationship in jeopardy. At Omega Point, they're all preparing to eventually fight the Reestablishment, but it could come sooner than anyone expected.

Before I get into the spoilers, I'll give my thoughts on it. I thought that it was a big step up from Shatter Me. I thought that most of the characters were developed much better than in Shatter Me. I also liked the way that Tehareh Mafi handled the love triangle. At least it was an actual possibility in this one. I don't think anyone believed it in Shatter Me. Lastly, the world building was definitely better. It wasn't perfect, and I still have some questions, but I definitely think that it was a lot better. Overall, I gave it 4/5 stars because I think it was better than Shatter Me, but not perfect at all.

Like I said, I think that Unravel Me was a big step up Shatter Me. Tahereh Mafi did a much better job of developing some of the characters: Warner and Kenji specifically. I really enjoyed learning more about Kenji, and I think he's probably my favorite character at this point.

I also liked seeing this whole other side of Warner. It certainly made the love triangle much more realistic, especially with the realization that Adam can't unconditionally touch Juliette. I don't think that the love triangle was convincing at all in Shatter Me, but Tahereh Mafi did a really good job of actually making it seem like either option might happen. I even found myself questioning who I wanted Juliette to be with. I'm writing this section before I've read Ignite Me, so I don't know for sure who she's going to end up with. I have a feeling I already know who she'll end up with, but I don't know for sure. Either way, Tahereh at least makes it seem like either option is a viable one.

So, one of the biggest plot twists is that Adam and Warner are brothers. WHAT?! I wasn't surprised about Warner having a power. Once we realized that the reason Adam could touch Juliette was because of whatever power he had, I knew Warner must have some sort of power too. Plus the fact that James can heal himself. All 3 of Anderson's sons have powers. This leads me to believe that Anderson has some sort of power that he's keeping hidden. But we'll have to see. Also, this gives an explanation to the very "convenient" fact that both Adam and Warner were able to touch her.

So, the less successful parts of the book. One thing that constantly bothered me was that everyone was keeping secrets from everyone else, seemingly for no reason at all. I mean, they had reasons, but none of them made much sense. Also, Juliette got on my nerves, but I haven't been the biggest fan of her anyway. She (well, Tahereh Mafi, really) tries to be too metaphorical, and it usually just doesn't work. And she constantly seems to figure things out too late or to do something really dumb and illogical. Here's my personal favorite Juliette metaphor. It's a doozy.

"Sometimes I wonder about glue. No one ever stops to ask glue how it's holding up. If it's tired of sticking things together or worried about falling apart or wondering how it will pay its bills next week." 

I think there's a blatant reason why no one asks glue how it's holding up: it's an inanimate object. It doesn't have feelings or HAVE TO PAY RENT. What kind of metaphor is that? If you're going to try to make some deep metaphor, at least don't make it ridiculous!

So, love triangle. I would honestly be surprised if Juliette didn't end up with Adam. Unless he gets killed. At this point, I honestly think that Juliette and Warner are better for each other than Juliette and Adam. It seems pretty clear to me. When she's with Warner, she's stronger and she's able to actually do things. When she's with Adam, they're both weaker and she can't seem to do anything for herself. However, I still find myself rooting for Juliette and Adam. Why? Because they have a history. Because she loves him. She doesn't love Warner. At least, I don't think she really does. She's happy with Adam. Sometimes the people who are technically the best for each other aren't actually the best for each other. And I think that's the case here.

Anyway, I think it was a solid sequel. I enjoyed it more than Shatter Me, and I hope that Ignite Me is even better. Solid 4 stars.

Destroy Me

So, after reading Unravel Me, I realized that it would probably be a good idea to read Destroy Me, the novella that bridges the gap between Shatter Me and Unravel Me. I'm not going to be talking about how I felt about it quality-wise, because I don't really have any opinions about that, I just want to talk about the character development. Although there's nothing spoilery in Destroy Me if you've read both Shatter Me and Unravel Me, I wouldn't read this section if you haven't read Destroy Me. Just read it. It's short. Also, I'm glad I read it after reading Unravel Me just because there was some overlap between this and Unravel Me, and I'm glad I read that scene in Unravel Me before reading it in Destroy Me. But that's just my opinion. 

So, Destroy Me is told from Warner's point of view. Oh, Warner. I'm not sure how I feel about the love triangle now. I think I'm thoroughly convinced that Warner is a good guy, especially the whole thing about the soldier he killed actually being a guy who beat his family. I mean, go Warner! Plus, the scene where he feeds the dog was just too cute. I'm also convinced that he genuinely does understand Juliette and that he deeply cares for her. Although I never thought I'd say this after reading Shatter Me, I really like Warner. I do. He's so complicated and intelligent and thoughtful, and I really, truly like him. 

Destroy Me has just further confused my brain as to who should/will end up with Juliette. I think this is the most I've ever been swayed in my original opinion about who the main character should/will end up with of any series EVER. I still believe that Juliette will end up with Adam in the end, but only because that's expected. I have this sick feeling that one of them is going to die, leaving Juliette with whichever is left. However, regardless of how good Juliette and Warner are for each other, I still stand by my opinion that Juliette loves Adam and doesn't love Warner, so therefore that's going to be the match. However, I can't for the life of me decide who I actually want her to end up with. I can't. Nope. 

So that's all I have to say about Destroy Me. It's super short, so I'm not sure I could give it a true star rating for quality. I really enjoyed the look it gave into Warner's mind, and I think it was very valuable to understanding his character, and I'd certainly suggest to read this while reading the series. I guess if I have to give it stars, it'd be a 3.25 like Shatter Me. It was important, but I was just kinda reading it to get through it. 

Fracture Me

So, after reading Destroy Me, I went right into the novella bridging Unravel Me and Ignite Me. Destroy Me was intense in the way that we learned so much about Warner and we had all the information thrown at us. Fracture Me was intense in the sense of war and violence and physical intensity. Just as with Destroy Me, don't read what comes next if you haven't read Fracture Me and all the books before it.

So, Adam's point of view. I think that what we learned about Warner's character in Destroy Me is pretty comparative to what we learned about the plot in Fracture Me. I haven't started Ignite Me, so I'm not sure how much of what happened in Fracture Me that we discover in Ignite Me, but I'm so glad I read it before Ignite Me. To me, the two most important details are the incident with James and Omega Point and Adam's belief that Juliette is dead. I'm sure that second one will come into play really quickly in Ignite Me.

At first, I really enjoyed Adam's point of view. I like Adam. I think he's a great guy and that he really cares about Juliette. But I feel like Fracture Me makes me wonder if he cares as much about her as Warner does. I can totally understand his conflict between James and Juliette. It's his brother, for goodness sakes! But I found myself getting a little annoyed that he was constantly thinking Juliette couldn't do it. I understand that he would be concerned about her not being able to use her powers to fight, but in the middle of the battle, he had a bit of an "I-told-you-so" moment, which bothered me. And then, when she was gone, I understand that James took priority because he was in immediate danger. But once he was safe, why wasn't saving Juliette his first priority? Yes, she was likely to be safe because Warner wanted her alive, but when Juliette got away from Warner, he never gave up. Adam has temporarily given up.

All of this... and I still kinda want her to be with Adam. I'm not sure whether that's due to me actually wanting them together or if it stems from my pretty strong belief that they'll end up together. Because clearly, if you think about it, she and Warner are better for each other. Or maybe it's still because I think she loves him and not Warner. I don't know. Once I finish Ignite Me, I'll let you know how I feel about the end of the love triangle.

I guess if I give this a rating, I'd give it the same as Destroy Me- 3.25- but I think it's more important to the overall plot than Destroy Me was. At this point, I'm going to guess that she ends up with Adam. Or maybe Adam gets killed and she ends up with Warner because of it? Just... I don't want Kenji to die. That's my #1 request. Not my boy. Please, Tahereh Mafi, not my boy.

Ignite Me

If you haven't read Shatter Me and Unravel Me, don't read any further. I have to talk about what happened in Unravel Me to continue on.

Ignite Me picks up pretty close to where Unravel Me left off. Warner has just saved Juliette's life, and Juliette wants to take Anderson down. And Warner wants to help her. And she doesn't know for sure what has happened to any of her friends from Omega Point. 

I think that's actually all that I can say about the plot without spoiling anything. What I can say is that I absolutely loved this book. I put it down and all that I could say was "WOW." The character development of both Juliette and Warner was great. Also, remember how I said I wasn't sure who I wanted her to end up with, but that I'd let you know how I felt about it in the end? It. Was. Perfect. She definitely ended up with the guy who was right for her by the end. And the way that Tahereh Mafi laid it out to explain how Juliette chose that guy made complete sense and worked perfectly. 

My one complaint with this book is that it was a bit too heavily focused upon the relationships, and not the plot. Yes, I'm extremely aware that this entire series is more about the relationships and characters than it is about the actual plot. However, I thought this was a bit too out of balance. 

Overall, I really really enjoyed this as an ending to the series. Aside from the unbalance I felt between the actual plot and the love triangle, I thought it was great. I think I'm going to give it 4.5 stars out of 5!

Let's all just appreciate all of the character development going on with Juliette in this book. WOW. Gone are the terrible metaphors and the child who can't do anything. Juliette has finally realized that she can do things on her own and that she needs to take down Anderson and that she needs to do it herself. She's finally a bearable and enjoyable character.

I wasn't a fan of Adam in this one. All throughout the series, I really liked Adam, and he suddenly became unpleasant in this. I wish there would have been more of a resolution with Juliette and Adam. Not that they ended up together or anything, but that they could at least be friends. 

OK, love triangle talk. I realized fairly quickly that Tahereh Mafi was pointing things in the direction of Warner. And rightly so. After all of the character development going on with Juliette, she and Adam just weren't right for each other. She and Warner, however, became the absolute perfect couple. At the beginning of the series, I couldn't believe how people would ship Juliette with Warner. And I think that belief is justified at the beginning of the series. However, after everything that happens, I would be surprised if anyone remained on team Adam. 

Honestly, I think this is the best-designed love triangle I've ever read. In every love triangle I've read in the past, it was pretty predictable. The girl falls in love, gets distracted by another guy momentarily, but then goes back to the original guy. In this one, you expect that she and Adam are the perfect couple- that they're going to end up together and that Warner is a mere distraction. But really, she and Warner are who should actually be together. This love triangle leaves you guessing for so long before giving resolution. This is probably the first time I've ever changed teams in the middle of a series. Needless to say, I really enjoyed the love triangle, and I'm extremely happy that she ended up with Warner. Especially since Adam has been underestimating Juliette since Unravel Me. And the main reason I thought Juliette would end up with Adam was because I thought she loved him over Warner. But clearly, as the book progresses, she realizes that she loves Warner, not Adam.

Now, the part I had problems with. I started wondering when Juliette's plan to kill Anderson would ever go into effect. I had barely any of the book left and they hadn't even rallied the troops yet. I thought the whole scene on the boat just all went by too quickly. It seemed like it was all over too soon. We spent all this time worrying about who Juliette would end up with, and then once it comes to taking down the Reestablishment, it's over way too quickly. Just a little more balance would have been nice. 

So, the very very end. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Obviously, it's conclusive- everyone lives, Warner and Juliette are together, Anderson is dead, YAY! But then it kinda just... ends. I wanted just a little more resolution. Maybe an epilogue? It almost seems like she wanted to leave it open for more books... which I would welcome with open arms. But if this is forever officially the end of the series, it's just OK. I was happy with everything that happened before the end, I just thought it was very abrupt.

Also: I just noticed that there are no/ almost no cross-outs in Ignite Me! I haven't looked through the entire book for anything, but I skimmed and I couldn't find a single cross-out. Yay for confident Juliette who doesn't change her mind!

Overall Series Ratings

Series rating: I ended up really enjoying the series. At the beginning of this whole journey, I wasn't so sure that I would like it, but by the end, I'd give the series a 4.25-4.5 overall. It wasn't perfect, but it was really great. 

Favorite character: If I had to choose a favorite character, it would definitely be Kenji. He's such a nice guy, and so funny. He's the perfect best friend for Juliette. I mean, I wish I could have him as my best friend. By the end, I also really liked Warner. After learning all about his past and his real personality, I don't know how anyone could dislike him. 

Favorite/ Least Favorite book: As you can probably tell, my favorite book in the series was Ignite Me, and my least favorite was Shatter Me. 

Favorite/ Least Favorite cover: I think the Ignite Me cover is the prettiest, followed by Shatter Me. The Unravel Me cover didn't impress me as much. 

So there you go, my series of the month post! I hope y'all enjoyed my opinions about the Shatter Me series! Have you read it? What did you think of it? If you like my posts, it's be awesome if you'd follow/subscribe, since it lets me know you like what I'm doing. Thanks, y'all!

March Series of the Month: Across The Universe Trilogy

Hey, y'all! So, I planned to read a little more than I did this month, but I got through a total of 4 books, so I averaged about a book per week, so that's not bad! Anyway, I'm not going to talk about the other book I read this month- I'll save it for a post where I talk about any of the standalone books I've read. In the meantime, though, you can always check out my Goodreads account by clicking HERE. You can see what books I've been reading and get a sneak peek of my reviews before my blog posts go up. You can also friend me on there, if you'd like!

Warning: I'm going to talk about spoilers in this post. I'll probably get into spoilers later in each book's review, but I'll try to make a note of it when I'm about to spoil something.

Across The Universe

First off, let's just all take a moment to appreciate this gorgeous cover. This may be my favorite cover of any book ever, and I don't even like pink. It's that pretty. 

Across The Universe is told from the POVs of our two main characters, Amy and Elder. The book opens in the year 2036. Seventeen-year-old Amy and her parents are among the 100 people who are going on a mission to this new planet that has been discovered, which supposedly is able to sustain human life. However, they aren't going to be passengers on this spaceship. They are going to be cryogenically frozen for the 300 year trek to the new planet. When the ship reaches the new planet, they are going to be un-frozen and will explore this new planet. Both of Amy's parents are essential to the trip- her father is a high ranking military officer, and her mother is an important scientist. Amy is not essential to the trip, but decides to go along with them.

We're then introduced to Elder. It's now approximately 50 years before the ship is set to land on the new planet, named Centauri-Earth by the ship-borns. At sixteen, Elder is the future leader of the ship and apprentice to Eldest. Elder is frustrated with his training, and begins to get into things Eldest doesn't want him to find. It's then that Elder discovers all of the cryogenically frozen people. Previously, he didn't even know they were on the ship. 

Shortly after this, someone opens Amy's chamber, causing her to wake up long before she was supposed to. The doctor is unable to re-freeze her, so she has to adjust to a completely new life on the spaceship Godspeed. However, soon after Amy wakes up, other frozen people begin to be pulled from their chambers. Amy and Elder have to team up to discover who is trying to kill all of these people.

Before I jump into the spoilery section of my review, I just want to give my overall opinion about the book. When I first finished it, I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about it. On one hand, I really enjoyed the book and loved the world, but on the other, I thought it was mostly predictable and felt like I was just on the surface of all of the events rather than immersed in them. Eventually, I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. 

OK, now onto the spoilery part of this. If you haven't read Across The Universe, STOP READING THIS. Go read the book, and then come back and read my opinions about Across The Universe.

I'm going to be focusing most of this on how I feel about what happened, rather than detailing the plot. Detailing the plot seems a bit pointless, since everyone reading this SHOULD be people who have read the book, and therefore know what has happened.

OK, so is it just me, or was it painfully obvious by about 30 pages in (or maybe less, I'm just guesstimating) that Orion was the "dead" Elder/Eldest? It got to the point that I thought Beth Revis was trying to make it painfully obvious, and maybe she was. But if so, why? And even the other "big" plot twist, the fact that Elder was the one who woke up Amy, wasn't that shocking. I guess this book just didn't surprise me much.

On the other hand, the world that Beth Revis has created is just so great. I found myself constantly thinking about Brave New World, and how they took Soma to be content, like how the Feeders are constantly on Phydus. And the way that, rather than having children constantly, they have the season, is so disturbingly interesting. Also, the sane people, the ones who are immune to Phydus, are considered to be the crazy ones who are locked up in the hospital. I just really enjoyed how it was very dystopian, but also very sci-fi and mystery at the same time. 

And clearly, the most heart-wrenching moment was when Harley, one of the most enjoyable characters in the book, decides to commit suicide. That was just so insanely sad. But honestly, I was also extremely sad when they froze Orion. I can understand why Amy hates him so much, and why what he did was so terrible, but at the same time, even though I figured out early-on who he really was, I couldn't help but like the guy. He genuinely thought that he was doing the right thing for the ship- for his people- even when it wasn't his responsibility anymore. And of all the people on the ship, he was the most insatiably curious; the free thinker. He wasn't going to take what he was told at face-value, and I can appreciate that.

I also really enjoyed how Elder and Amy learned about each other's different lifestyles- how Elder believes the season is natural; how Amy is perplexed by the mono-ethnicity of the spaceship. This world-building is both great and detrimental. Like most first books in a series or trilogy, this book focuses pretty heavily upon world-building. There are some exciting moments, but most of the book is discovery- nothing that's going to get your heart racing. However, it's really interesting to be introduced to a world from not only the eyes of someone who has been a part of that world his whole life, but also from the eyes of Amy, who is being introduced to the world right along with you. This is, in my opinion, the biggest advantage to having the two different POVs. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book despite the faults I found within it! 

A Million Suns

Once again, I'm going to have a spoiler-free (unless you haven't read Across The Universe!) section, and then dive into the spoilery bits.

A Million Suns picks up at about 3 months after Amy woke up. Elder has taken control of the ship and has taken the feeders off of Phydus, much to the distress of Doc. But then, several intense and crazy things begin to happen on the ship. People begin mysteriously dying and there's unrest among the feeders. Orion, although he's cryogenically frozen, has left videos for Amy, hinting at more and more secrets about the ship that only he knows. Overall, the book is just a lot more action-packed and crazy than Across The Universe.

Before I jump into the spoilers, I'll talk a bit about what I thought of the book. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads but overall, I'd have to say that it's really a 4.5 for sure. It kept me guessing much more than Across The Universe did, and I just really enjoyed the way all the storylines wove together.

Spoiler section! WOW. I don't even know where to start with this book. 

I'm not sure how others feel about Orion's trail of clues left for Amy, but I really enjoyed that part of the book. I always enjoy trying to decipher a clue alongside the characters in the book. This whole thing solidified how much I like Orion as a character, and not only gave a great backstory to his character and solidified his reasoning behind what he did, but also made me feel a little less guilty for counting him among my favorite characters in the series. He gave Amy hints and allowed her to figure them out herself and come to her own conclusions. He showed her the truth, which is more than can be said of several of the other characters in the book.

And some of the realizations, just WOW. All of these secrets about the ship were so interesting and profound. For me, the biggest probably wasn't the realization that they weren't moving, or even that they'd been in the same place since the Plague Eldest, but that they were already to Centauri-Earth! When Elder was out in space and saw Centauri-Earth literally right in front of his face, I think I physically gasped from surprise. Plus the fact that the cryo-level can detach from the ship. Just... whoa.

Adding to the surprise, let's just talk about the villain of the book... DOC. What? I didn't see that coming at all. I found it pretty easy to pick out the villain in both the first and third books, but I was guessing for quite a while. The fact that everyone was killed by Phydus patches should've been a sign, but since a lot were stolen, I never thought to consider Doc. 

And then you add on yet another layer that because everyone can now think for themselves, there's a huge revolt going on, especially after people start dying. And if that's not enough conflict, Luthor is still trying to attack Amy. I'm not complaining about all of these separate storylines- I love it. The layers upon layers make this book so intricate and beautiful. 

I also really appreciated how Amy and Elder's relationship was handled in this book. Neither of them knew where they were at for most of Across The Universe, and A Million Suns takes advantage of that. Even though I was rooting for them and I knew there was no way they wouldn't end up together, I appreciated that Amy wasn't going to decide to be with him just because he was her only choice.

In case you couldn't tell, I liked this book more than Across The Universe. Honestly, A Million Suns is my favorite book in the series. It's action-packed and surprising, and I love that.

Shades of Earth

First off, let's all rage over the most frustrating cover change in the history of EVER. The first two books are SO PRETTY. And then this one comes out and it's the most generic, boring thing. Yes, I think it matches with the book well, and I think it demonstrates the large shift that happens between the books, and I know it wouldn't really make sense for this book to have a spacey cover, but it's so upsetting and depressing. They could've come up with some way to at least keep some similarities rather than just totally re-doing this cover and making the paperback covers match it. I mean...

ALL THE RAGE

You will never be able to convince me that the paperback covers aren't the most depressing cover change on the planet. Except maybe the recent Harry Potter cover change that makes me actually physically sick.

Anyway, onto the actual book. As before, this first paragraph will not spoil anything for you if you've already read the first two books in the trilogy. If you haven't read the first two books in the trilogy, what are you doing here?! I told you to go away paragraphs ago! But, if you're that intent on spoiling yourself, be my guest.

The book opens with Amy and Elder finally taking their people down to Centauri-Earth. Once there, they un-freeze the frozens... and begin to get attacked. Whatever life forms they were warned about by the little satellite probes are now attacking them, and they realize just how unsafe this new planet is. Upon becoming unfrozen, Amy's dad quickly takes control of the situation, and tries to tell Elder what to do as well, even though Elder isn't putting up with it. But they all realize soon after arriving that some of their people have begun dying off, and they don't know who- or what- is doing it.

Before the spoilers, here's how I feel about Shades of Earth... I'm not quite sure. I gave it a 4 on Goodreads, but I haven't decided whether or not I liked it better than Across The Universe. More detailed explanation in the spoilery section. However, the important thing to me is that I liked it, and I thought it ended the series well.

I don't know what it is with me and discovering the villain only like 30 pages in, but immediately when Amy noticed something weird about Chris's eyes, I knew something was up. I wasn't quite sure what, but he was definitely really shady. Always at the right place at the wrong time.

Even though the plot of this book was really great, and the new characters were great, and the new world was built great, I missed being in the spaceship. I loved that little world on the ship, and I didn't really want the plot to take us away from there, because space is clearly more fun than a second earth. I guess that's kinda parallel to how many of the shipborns felt, leaving their only homes behind. 

Beth Revis was really, really intent on killing off all the characters, wasn't she? Any shipborn that Amy interacted with enough for us to know their name, they died. Any named earth-born, they died as well. Basically any named human was killed. The worst for me was definitely Orion. He didn't even get to see Centauri-Earth. However, when we all thought Elder had died from hitting the space station, I was definitely the saddest at his death. Elder was my favorite character throughout the series, and I was really sad.

The whole realization that humans had actually colonized Centauri-Earth back before even the Plague Eldest and that they had developed Phydus was really surprising. It was a really cool plot twist that I wasn't expecting. Even more interesting was the hybrids who were living on Centauri-Earth. I wish we could've learned even more about them by the end of the book.

Speaking of the end... that ending, man. Amy is injected and becomes a hybrid, and literally everyone dies. She goes back to live with the hybrids, and then... the last chapter. ELDER IS ALIVE. Biggest relief ever. Amy can finally truly be home now that she has Elder.

My one complaint... how on Centauri-Earth did Amy's dad not realize that he had an extra soldier immediately?! Colonel Martin was completely on top of everything constantly (although occasionally confused). I know he found out about Chris sooner than anyone else, but how did he not notice immediately that Chris wasn't one of the frozens? Or even that hmmm... I came with 9, so who is this 10th person?

I still can't decide whether I liked Across The Universe or Shades of Earth better. I like the world and the plot of Across The Universe, but I felt like Shades of Earth was such a nice little bowtie on the series, and I loved the way the characters had grown by the time they reached this book.

Overall Series Opinion:

I really, really enjoyed this series. Although in general, none of the books were huge standouts, overall they created a really great trilogy. The way that the secrets continued through all the books was so great. They were still solving Across The Universe mysteries in Shades of Earth, which shows how incredibly thought out this series was. Overall, I think this trilogy is probably going to become one of my all-time favorites.

So, that's it for this post! I hope y'all enjoyed my opinions about the Across The Universe Trilogy. Have you read it? What did you think of it? If you like my posts, it'd be awesome if you'd follow/subscribe, since it lets me know you're enjoying my posts! Thanks, y'all!

February Series of the Month #2: The Divergent Series

Hey, y'all! So, my plan was to read books 1 & 2 of the Miss Peregrine series in February and to start on the Divergent trilogy in March. However, I finished both Miss Peregrine's and Hollow City by halfway through February, so I decided to get right into Divergent, since I had been wanting to read it for quite a while. I finished Hollow City one evening, and then read 7 chapters of Divergent. The next day, I read the rest of Divergent. I was just so engrossed in the story and the characters that I could hardly put it down. Then, that evening, I started Insurgent, which I spent a little more time with.

Warning: Spoilers ahead! If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read my reviews if you haven't read the book! Trust me, I saw a huge Allegiant spoiler after finishing Divergent and it nearly ruined me.

Divergent

As many of you already know, Divergent is a dystopian novel set in what is now Chicago. At some point long before this novel, it was decided that in order for life to run more smoothly, people should divide into 5 different factions based on how they perceive the problems of the world. Here's a brief rundown of the factions and their beliefs/ symbols:

The people of Abnegation believe that selfishness is what causes problems in the world. They practice extreme selflessness by wearing only grey, drab clothing to not bring attention to themselves. The Abnegation hold the government positions due to their selfless stance. They don't get along with Erudite.

The people of Amity believe that war and fighting are what cause problems in the world. They are peaceful- verging on hippie. They appreciate the arts and dress in red and yellow. They make decisions democratically, without one true leader. They don't get along with Candor.

The people of Candor believe that deception is what causes problems in the world. The people of Candor are honest to a fault, valuing honesty over anything else. They dress in black and white/ suits. Because they are so anti- dishonesty, they are exceptional at interpreting body language and knowing when someone is lying. They don't get along with Amity.

The people of Dauntless believe that fear and cowardice are what cause problems in the world. The Dauntless value bravery above all else and are in charge of the security of the city. They wear all black and have several tattoos, piercings, and often color their hair odd colors. As the guardians, the Dauntless are neutral with all factions. 

The people of Erudite blame ignorance and lack of knowledge for the problems in the world. They value intelligence and devote their lives to education. Although Abnegation hold the government positions, there is a single Erudite representative- the most intelligent Erudite- who also holds a government position. The Erudite don't get along with Abnegation. 

OK, so there's the rundown of the factions. When a teenager reaches the age of 16, they take a test to determine which faction they are best suited for. In the choosing ceremony the following day, they then get to choose whether to stay with their family in their faction, or to transfer to a different faction. It doesn't necessarily have to be the faction that the test said that they were best suited for, although that's definitely advised. However, once they choose a faction, there's no turning back. They must go through that faction's initiation, and if they fail, they become factionless- living outside of the factions and doing the jobs no one wants for little pay. 

Now that I've explained the world, let's get to the actual plot. Our main character, Beatrice Prior, is a 16 year old who is a member of the Abnegation. She and her brother, Caleb, are only a day away from their faction tests. Beatrice has never felt like she really belongs as a member of Abnegation. She believes she isn't selfless enough to truly be part of Abnegation, unlike her very selfless brother. She takes her test- a simulation of 3 separate incidents which, depending on her responses, should tell her which faction she belongs in. But when she finishes the test, she finds out that it didn't work on her. She is told that she's equal parts Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite. The woman administering the test, Tori (a Dauntless), tells her that she is 'Divergent' and that she must never tell anyone because Divergents are seen as a threat to the faction system. At the choosing ceremony the next day, Beatrice is shocked to see Caleb choose Erudite. When it's her turn, she chooses Dauntless. After the ceremony, her initiation begins. 

This is the point where you should probably stop reading if you don't want spoilers. Just saying. Again. Don't say I didn't warn you!!!

The book follows her journey through Dauntless initiation (where she changes her name to just Tris), where she meets friends, makes enemies and OF COURSE, falls in love. 

The overall plot of this book is not what makes it a good book. Long-run, it's very predictable. You can tell that she and Four are going to end up together. You know that she's not going to be a total failure. Once you see the problems occurring in the factions, you know there's going to be some sort of war between factions. You know that people are going to find out that Tris is divergent and that it's going to come back and bite her in the butt. I don't know about you, but I figured out that Four was Tobias long, LONG before it was ever mentioned. My point is- the plot is formulaic, just like 95% of books are. And that's not a bad thing; it's inevitable. 

The details and smaller plot points are what make this book so great. The simulations, the initiate conflicts, the training, the world building; all of these combined make it a fascinating book. I think that the test is fascinating, as are the other simulations the initiates go through. I really enjoyed the early Tris/Four interactions and seeing them actually getting to know each other. So much better than insta-love. I loved the entire initiation process- Tris losing, rather than just automatically being great at everything. And, of course, I love the whole world that Veronica Roth has created. I find the factions really interesting. Much like Harry Potter fans sort themselves into houses, Divergent fans can sort themselves into factions, and although in the world these factions are completely flawed, it's fun for fans to find their little niche in this really cool world. 

Insurgent

Insurgent, the second book in the series, picks up right where Divergent left off. The book follows Tris as she goes throughout the city, trying to stay alive and defeat Jeanine. We see more of the Amity and Candor factions, which I thought was really interesting. But I'm just going to cut right to the chase... it was disappointing. 

Don't get me wrong, I devoured it much like I did with Divergent- though definitely not as quickly. I just think that so much was very drawn out. Tris and Four both became very unpleasant, and the book focused a bit too much on their relationship. It almost seemed like Veronica Roth was trying to drag it out to make it a trilogy. She calls upon things she's already used- simulations for example- and it gets just a little old.

I was also annoyed throughout the book that even though being divergent was supposed to be this very rare trait, it seemed like we were discovering divergents left and right. After reading past this point, it makes sense, but at the time, it was very frustrating. 

For me, the importance of this book lies in the information that Tris and the others receive at the end of the book- about how divergents will be able to help those outside the city. As you can see when comparing the length of my discussion on this book vs. Divergent, I don't have a ton to say. I just think that so much of this book was unnecessary to the series overall.

Allegiant

Seriously, if you haven't read ALL of Allegiant, STOP READING NOW. I am about to talk about the biggest spoiler of the series.

So, that Allegiant spoiler I talked about accidentally seeing after finishing Divergent? The spoiler was that Tris died. I almost didn't want to keep going, but I decided that I still needed to see what else happened, so I kept going. 

I definitely liked Allegiant more than I liked Insurgent. I was really excited to see what was outside of the fence and to get an explanation for the whole organization of the city. 

Here are my major complaints with the book: 

First, I was really annoyed by Uriah being killed. Of all the characters who could've been killed, why Uriah? I understand why a character had to die in that scenario, but I wish it hadn't been him. 

Second, I got really annoyed that Tris and Four were constantly getting jealous just because the other was talking to someone of the opposite gender. They have no reason to not trust each other, and yet they're both jealous.

Third, Tris's death. I guess Veronica did it so that the ending was dramatic, but it's just not a satisfying ending. Caleb's death would have been much more satisfying because he actually had a debt to pay. Tris spent a significant portion of the books doing selfless acts, so it seems like a fitting way for her to die, but she just didn't deserve it after how hard she fought. 

Most of the rest of the book, I actually enjoyed. I didn't think it was anywhere near as great as Divergent, but I definitely preferred it to Insurgent. The corrupt government was realistic. I liked that Four was able to finally make peace with his mom, and I also appreciated that for once, he was the one making the mistakes rather than Tris. I also appreciated that we were able to see the characters a couple years down the road and see how things have progressed. 

Overall, it was somewhat disappointing, but it was an OK ending to the series. 

Also, this has nothing to do with the actual story, but would you just look at how gorgeous the inside of this book is??

It's a really minor detail, but my favorite color combo is red & black, and I love the kinda scratched looking red and the cloud-like black/grey. It's just really pretty.

Overall Series Impression:

This series started out SO strong. I gave Divergent a solid 5/5 stars on GoodReads. I thoroughly enjoyed it and finished it in a day, despite it being more than 500 pages long. The other two books were... OK. I gave them both 4 stars on GoodReads, although Insurgent was closer to a 3.5 and Allegiant was a solid 4. I'm sure that upon a re-read these might fluctuate a bit, but those are my initial opinions. 

Also, that being said, I do have an account on GoodReads, which I have linked HERE. I'm probably not going to review every single book I read on here, so you can check out my GoodReads account to see any reviews of books which I might have done on there and not on here. Also, I have a shelf listing all the books I plan on reading soon, in the order that I plan to read them, so if you want to see what's coming up next, you can check it out there. Lastly, I'm surprisingly good at updating where I am in the book I'm currently reading, so you can always check that out to see what might be reviewed next. 

So, that's it for this post! I know I said last month that I knew what I'd be reading for March, but since it was the Divergent trilogy, now I don't know what to read! So I'll have to figure out what to read as I go! If you have any suggestions for me, feel free to let me know. I might start on the Across The Universe trilogy, since I have the first 2 (meaning less books to buy) or I might go back to a non-fiction choice (although I can't push myself through those as quickly). See y'all here Saturday for the next chapter of The Secret Lightning Scar!