Showing posts with label wrap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wrap. Show all posts

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Ranking Every Single Book I Read in 2015 [FINALLY]

Hey, y'all! This is FINALLY the 10th and final post in a 10-post series listing some of my favorite things. The first seven posts are lists of my current all-time favorites, while the last 3 posts include only favorites of 2015.

If you want to check out the other lists/posts in this series, you can check them out here:

This list is my ranking of all of the books that I read in 2015. I meant to get this post up a lot sooner, but I just really underestimated both the length of time that this would take to finish, as well as my ability to actually focus and buckle down and actually do it. Anyway, this post is going to be super long, so I won't ramble much longer. Pretty much anything that could be linked on here is, in fact, linked on here. Video discussions, written reviews, video reviews, etc. If there's a place where I've extensively discussed a book, it's linked alongside the book. And all of the titles link to their respective books' Goodreads pages.

*ahh, one last note sorrysorrysorry*-- I thought it would be important to mention that there are a handful of books where I changed the rating somewhat after the initial review, so trust any ratings that I have on this list over any mentioned elsewhere. My opinions probably haven't shifted much-- typically I just realize that I rated it a bit too high for my actual feelings and then I return to the rating and fix it.

44) The Leveller
(The Leveller #1)
by Julia Durango

Rating: 4/10

This book was just a massive disappointment. The writing, characters, plot, world, and romance all felt incredibly juvenile- as if it were a book written for 13 year-olds BY a 13 year-old. Unfortunately, I went into this book with Ready Player One in mind, and although I was pretty confident it wouldn't live up to that expectation, I didn't expect it to flop as much as it did. I originally rated it a 6/10 both because I saw potential in the series, and because I didn't want to bash a book that someone spent a lot of time and effort writing. But, the more distance I get from it, the less I see the potential and the more I realize that this book was simply not good.


by Janine Carbone

Rating: 4.5/10

I received a free ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. Originally, I rated this book 7/10 for various reasons, all of which are discussed in the video linked here. Either way, I thought the pacing was off at the beginning with the romance. There were sections in the middle that seemed irrelevant and disjointed. And then, the end, when it began to get more thrilling and interesting, I found it pretty predictable and figured out what was going on.


by Emily Carroll

Rating: 4.5/10

I was really excited about this one because I'd heard that the 5 short stories within were not only creepy, but had beautiful artwork. Unfortunately, I only found half of that to be true. The artwork was really cool throughout. The colors on the cover create the color theme for the book, which is really interesting and ominous. However, the stories felt like they've been done before- one of them, I'd definitely heard before, and the others just didn't seem very original. They reminded me of stories from "Scary Stories You Tell in the Dark" or a creepypasta... but not as good. I was just incredibly bored with this one.


by Jesse Andrews

Rating: 5/10
Video Discussion

Full disclosure, I completely finished this list and was getting ready to publish it when I realized that I was a book short. After flipping through my Goodreads, I realized that this was the missing one. That's how memorable this book was to me. I definitely didn't hate it by any means, but I thought it was just completely average. I enjoyed the narrator (for the most part-- he made a few unsavory comments about women). His style of narration was really humorous and unique. But that's like... the long and short of the things that I really enjoyed about this. The plot was... there. Kinda. I just didn't think that this book was that great. #sorrynotsorry.

(Hercule Poirot #23)
by Agatha Christie

Rating: 5.5/10

I love Agatha Christie's Poirot series. The books aren't necessarily my favorite things ever, but they're always very intriguing mysteries that keep me invested and curious throughout, constantly hypothesizing about whodunnit. Unfortunately, I just didn't get that at all from Evil Under The Sun. Just as with all of Christie's books, the mystery was intricate and well crafted. However, even though I had hunches and suspicions, I found myself not really caring about the execution of the murder and the individuals involved. Overall, I just had a sense of meh with this book.


by Ed Brubaker, Ill. by Sean Phillips, Color by Elizabeth Breiweiser

Rating: 6/10

This is possibly the biggest disappointment I've ever had, solely because of how absolutely gorgeous this cover is. Honestly, this is quite possibly my favorite cover of all-time and the story just simply doesn't live up to the cover. At this point, I quite frankly don't remember anything about the characters or the story other than the fact that it was a murder mystery set in the 1940s. At least... I think it was the 40s. This story was just not very memorable and was essentially just all setup for the rest of the series. I've considered continuing on to the second volume, but I'm not even convinced I want to do that.

by Joe Hill, Ill. by Gabriel Rodriguez

Rating: 6/10

This volume of the Locke & Key series was definitely my least favorite. I thought it was just very disjointed in the beginning, and I didn't think that the plot was as intriguing as the other books in the series. We don't get some explanations about what's going on (within the series overall) until a bit later than I think it was needed, so that made this volume a bit confusing.



37) Ten
by Gretchen McNeil

Rating: 6/10

Ten is a re-telling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (aka my favorite book ever), so I wasn't expecting too much from this. But I was mildly impressed. While I thought that the characters & dialogue were quite annoying (especially at the beginning), and the writing wasn't amazing, I did think that McNeil made some interesting choices. I thought that there were some clever twists thrown in that even I didn't totally see coming, as someone who's already read the source material (many, MANY, times). And, once the ball got rolling on the murders, the book was actually really fast-paced and interesting.

by Joe Hill, Ill. by Gabriel Rodriguez

Rating: 7/10

At this point, I'm honestly kinda blanking on a lot of the details of this one. I remember that I liked it, and that it was a decent continuation of the series, but there wasn't really anything particularly outstanding or interesting about it.


by Joe Hill, Ill. by Gabriel Rodriguez

Rating: 7/10
Written Review
Video Discussion

This one had some cool moments. I definitely didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first volume, but that was also because the first volume was more twisty than this one. Either way, this was better than the two following volumes, and kept me interested in the story.


by E. Lockhart

Rating: 7/10

This one was alright. I was told that this book was really surprising, and I found that it just really wasn't at all surprising. The plot was pretty basic and the mysterious stuff was pretty transparent to me. I liked it, but I didn't think there was anything special about it at all. 


33) Armada
by Ernest Cline

Rating: 7/10

This book was just pretty average. I had high hopes for it because it's written by Ernest Cline, the author of Ready Player One (AKA one of my favorite books ever). Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to that. It was fine. It had moments where it was pretty interesting, and moments when it was over-complicated with terminology. The plot was pretty basic and predictable as well. Overall, it was just alright.

32) Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Rating: 7/10
Video Discussion

It was very difficult to not compare this book to the movie (which I love). I ended up actually enjoying the movie a lot more than the book. The movie was a much more fleshed out version of the book, and almost felt like the movie was the source material for the book, not the other way around. But I already enjoyed the story, so I ended up enjoying this too.


31) Murder After Hours
(Hercule Poirot #25)
by Agatha Christie

Rating: 7/10

Written Review
Video Discussion

I read somewhere that Agatha Christie thought that her biggest mistake with this book was introducing Poirot into it, and I kinda agree with that. My biggest problem was that it didn't quite read like a Poirot novel. Poirot didn't seem incredibly important to the story and seemed to be there simply to provide the solution and wasn't super important otherwise. I still enjoyed it, just as I do with most Poirot novels, but my biggest complaint was that it didn't read like a Poirot novel.


30) Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
by Joe Hill, Ill. by Gabriel Rodriguez

Rating: 7.5/10

This was a really interesting beginning to this series. It took me a little while to warm up to the graphic format (this was my first trade comic ever!) and to the artistic style, but once I warmed up to it, I really enjoyed it as a first volume. It introduced the story really well and was interesting and clever. However, it was occasionally confusing and didn't really stick with me too much.

29) The Future Collection
by Beth Revis

Rating: 7.5/10
Written Review
Video Discussion

Overall, this was a solid collection of novellas. I'm not a huge novella person, and I usually can't really get very connected to novellas. Even novellas that I enjoy typically get average ratings. The only ones I've ever really enjoyed were ones connected to stories and characters that I already loved. That being said, I think that these novellas are a good sampling of Beth Revis's writing. There are a couple that I thought were really great (The Turing Test and The Most Precious Memory) and the rest were just solid.


28) Lexicon
by Max Barry

Rating: 7.5/10
Video Review

Lexicon is a really fast-paced book, and it's incredibly twisty. The "magic" system, for lack of a better word, is really unique and interesting as well, and the plot is really twisty. There are a lot of points in this book where you aren't really sure what's going on, and several times, that's purposeful and I really enjoyed it, but other times, it was due to a lack of explanation, and that's where many of my problems with this book lie. And on top of that, I think that my feelings toward this book lean much more toward appreciation than enjoyment. I think that, in general, it's well-constructed and that the twists worked. But I didn't find myself getting personally attached to it in any way. I don't see myself ever re-reading this book, and looking back, I enjoyed reading it, but I wouldn't necessarily say that I "like" it. There's just a disconnect there that made me lower my initial rating to its current 7.5/10 rating.

by Joe Hill, Ill. by Gabriel Rodriguez


Rating: 8/10

This was definitely one of my favorite volumes in the series, especially as a conclusion to the series. It was basically everything you'd want from a conclusion-- emotional, fast-paced, and exciting. Overall, I really enjoyed it and thought that it ended the series really well. 

by Joe Hill, Ill. by Gabriel Rodriguez

Rating: 8/10

This was definitely my favorite volume in the series. I felt like the series left some things unexplained for a bit too long, which is why volume 4 wasn't my favorite. However, a lot of things were finally explained in this volume and we got some of the back-story, and it was not only really interesting, but really helped me to understand what was going on and made things a lot clearer. Overall, a really great volume in the series.

(The Ascendance Trilogy #1)
by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Rating: 8/10

I read this near the beginning of last year, and I really want to go back and re-read it because I have a feeling that I will enjoy it more the second time around. Overall, I thought this book was really interesting. It was a lot slower paced than the rest of the books in the trilogy, but instead, it was really intriguing with character development and some world building. I did have a couple complaints, one of which was that I thought that it was a little predictable, but overall I enjoyed it.

24) Scarlet
(Lunar Chronicles #2)
by Marissa Meyer


Rating: 8/10

I read the entirety of the Lunar Chronicles in 2015, and this one was unfortunately my least favorite. I think that overall, I thought that the plot was less intriguing than the previous and following plots, and I didn't enjoy the characters introduced in this one as much as I enjoyed the characters in the previous book. That being said, I still found Scarlet to be overall enjoyable. Even though it was my least favorite in the series, it was still a solid book overall.

by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Maureen Johnson


Rating: 8/10

It's actually pretty impressive that The Bane Chronicles placed this high on this list and got such a good rating, because I had a very different opinion of the book when I began it in 2014. I read 6 of the 10 novellas in 2014 and ended up putting it down because I wasn't enjoying it very much. I didn't hate it by any means, because there's really no way that I could hate anything dealing with Magnus Bane. However, since I prefer long books, novellas aren't exactly my favorite way to take in stories, so it was already at a slight disadvantage. And on top of that, the first few stories were just OK. But then, when I picked it up again in July, I really enjoyed the last 4 novellas. So, it all ended up evening out to a rating of 8/10.

22) The Knife of Never Letting Go
(Chaos Walking Trilogy #1)
by Patrick Ness

Rating: 8/10

This is another book that I initially picked up in 2014 and then ended up setting down. I picked it back up again in late 2015 and overall really enjoyed it. I was pretty torn between an 8 and an 8.5, but since I didn't absolutely love it and there wasn't anything that particularly impressed/surprised me, I decided to go for the lower of the two. Overall, I really liked this book. The world, plot, and characters, were all interesting. I think the big thing for this one for me with this one is that it hasn't really stuck with me. I remember it really well, but I haven't cared enough to want to carry on in the series, which is I think why it didn't get any higher than an 8-- I really enjoyed it, but it hasn't stuck.


21) The Shadow Throne
(Ascendance Trilogy #3)
by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall, I thought this was a really great conclusion to the trilogy. I really enjoyed it, because it was very fast paced and tugged at my emotions just as I wanted it to. I did find it to be slightly predictable, but I was only mildly bothered by that. I think my biggest problem with it was that I felt that some things came too easy for the main character in this book. He tended to have some elaborate plans to get out of different situations, and while I found them really awesome and epic in the previous books, some of his plans seemed a bit far-fetched and reaching in this book. Aside from that and the minor predictability factor, I really enjoyed it.

by George Orwell

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall, I thought that Animal Farm was really clever. I really enjoyed the statement that George Orwell was making, and I thought that the analogies and comparisons made were really well-done and interesting. I do have to say that is is definitely a book that I appreciated more than I enjoyed. I thought it was really great, but there was nothing about it that made me love it. I really liked it, but there's no real emotional attachment there and I don't see myself re-reading that. I liked it, I appreciated it, and I respect the statement it's making.

by Lauren Gibaldi

Rating: 8.5/10

I went into it expecting a pretty basic contemporary, but was pleasantly surprised to find a really enjoyable story. I really enjoyed the dual timelines because of how they paralleled each other in many ways. And on top of this, the characters were all really into alternative/punk rock music, which is something that I really like too, so I felt that connection with the characters. Overall, even though it wasn't anything groundbreaking, I found it really enjoyable.

18) Cinder
(Lunar Chronicles #1)
by Marissa Meyer

Rating: 8.5/10

This was a really great start to the Lunar Chronicles. I really enjoyed the way that Cinder played with the story of Cinderella and how different tropes and scenes within the story were twisted into this really interesting sci-fi dystopia. Cinder is one of my favorite characters in the series, so I really enjoyed reading her part of the story. I felt like the foreshadowing was a little heavy, but that definitely still didn't take away from my enjoyment of it overall.

17) Vicious
by V.E. Schwab

Rating: 8.5/10

Vicious is a booktube favorite, so I had some pretty high expectations of it. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I thought that the anti-hero characters were really cool and I really enjoyed the dual timelines. However, I definitely wasn't quite as impressed as a lot of people on booktube. Although I really enjoyed it overall, there wasn't really anything that stood out as incredibly impressive, which is why it didn't any higher of a rating.

by Brian K. Vaughan, Ill. by Fiona Staples

Rating: 8.5/10

This is a really intriguing series, and I really enjoy it overall, but the volumes tend to run together a bit, especially at this point. Overall, a solid volume in the series, on par with the rest. I enjoy all of them pretty equally, but just ended up putting this one the lowest.

by Brian K. Vaughan, Ill. by Fiona Staples

Rating: 8.5/10

As stated before, I enjoy pretty much all of the volumes equally. This one introduced the series really well and got me very invested in everything that was going on. The world is really well developed and well explained, and the plot is really complex and well-woven. Definitely worth trying out if you're wanting to get into comics.

by Brian K. Vaughan, Ill. by Fiona Staples

Rating: 8.5/10

Not sure what else to say about this volume that wasn't said in the last two books on the list. This has been my favorite in the series so far because of how fast-paced and interesting the plot was. Overall, a solid installment in a solid series.

13) The Runaway King
(Ascendance Trilogy #2)
by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Rating: 9/10

This was definitely my favorite in the Ascendance Trilogy. This is one of the most fast-paced books I've ever read- constantly stuff happening throughout the entirety of this ~300 page book. On top of that, the main character is one of my favorite main characters ever. There are some really awesome, exciting things that happen in this book, and I was hooked the entire way through.

12) A Darker Shade of Magic
(A Darker Shade of Magic #1)
by V.E. Schwab

Rating: 9/10

This was a really solid first installment in a series. It took me a little while to get invested in the story, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. The characters were really cool, the plot was really intriguing and the world/parallel Londons were so awesome. Overall, it was a really cool book and I can't wait to see how the events of this first book affect the rest of the world and the series. 


11) The Rithmatist 
(Rithmatist #1)
by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 9/10

I was really impressed by this book. It's been a while since I've read a middle grade novel, and I was surprised by how quickly I got into this book. The chalk-based magic system in this book is really cool and really well-constructed, and the plot was really intriguing and kept me interested all the way through. And on top of that, I loved the school setting and the friendships between the characters in the book. The real tragedy here is that there's only one book out in the series, and I have no idea when book 2 is coming out.

10) Cress
(Lunar Chronicles #3)
by Marissa Meyer

Rating: 9/10

Once again, it took me a while to warm up to this one. It took a while for this book to pick up steam, but once it did, it was awesome. The last ~150 pages were super intense and really fast-paced. I flew through them in less than an hour because I was just so invested in everything that was going on. Despite the slightly slow beginning, the end made up for it and more. Plus, the characters who were most focused upon are some of my favorites in the series. Captain Thorne= da best.

by Scott Snyder, Ill. by Jock, Color by Matt Hollingsworth, Lettering by Clem Robins

Rating: 9.5/10

I was really impressed with this. It is, by far, my favorite single volume of a trade comic that I've ever read. The plot kept me constantly on my toes and trying to figure out what would happen next. The concept was really unique as well. But the best part of the comic was definitely the art style. It was really dark and matched the mood of the story, and every page had a watercolor stain effect across it which I thought was super cool. Overall, really awesome, and I can't wait to see what the next volume has in store.

by Beth Revis

Rating: 9.5/10

This book solidified Beth Revis as one of my absolute favorite authors. The concept was really unique, and the world was really interesting and well-developed. And on top of all of that, the plot is really action-packed and fast paced. There are constant twists and turns, which keeps it really interesting constantly. It was just a really epic, well written book and I loved it.

by Marisha Pessl

Rating: 9.5/10

The best part of this book is its mood. I rarely get affected by books, but this one really messed with my mind and left me with an overwhelming sense of paranoia pretty much the entire time I was reading the book. I got incredibly engrossed in it, and was always thinking about the book when I wasn't reading it. It constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat because of all of the craziness and twists and turns going on. Overall, it's just an awesome, atmospheric novel.

6) Winter
(Lunar Chronicles #4)
by Marissa Meyer

Rating: 9.5/10

This is easily my favorite book in the Lunar Chronicles. I really enjoyed getting to see all of the different storylines from all of the major characters get woven together really nicely. Even though it was more than 800 pages long, it was a really quick read because of all of the crazy things that were going on. Overall, I really enjoyed the way that Marissa Meyer wrapped the series up.

5) The Hero of Ages
(Mistborn #3)
by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 9.5/10

This was the conclusion to a really amazing trilogy. This was my least favorite in the trilogy, but only marginally. I read the majority of this book in a single day because I was just so invested in finding out what was going on. There were so many twists and turns, and it made the book pretty unpredictable. I just found that I couldn't put it down, because any time I thought I was at a point where I could take a break, some new twist popped up and I found myself still unable to put it down. It gave me all the feels and I just really loved it.

by Jandy Nelson

Rating: 9.5/10

I'm not a huge fan of contemporaries. I enjoy them, but it's definitely not my favorite genre and I don't tend to read them a ton. And, when I do read them, they rarely end up this high on my favorites list. But this is where I'll Give You The Sun is at, and this is definitely where it belongs. Everything about this book was wonderful. The two POVs are incredibly distinct, and both are written beautifully. The way that all of the threads within the story are woven together is masterful- I found myself falling completely in love with the storytelling and the twists and turns. Seriously, everything about this book is amazing. I loved it.

3) The Name of the Wind
(Kingkiller Chronicle #1)
by Patrick Rothfuss

Rating: 10/10

This. Book. I have to admit- it took a little while to get invested. And it took me a while to read this. However, the #1 thing I would say for anyone wanting to read this is not to worry about how intimidating it seems. I mean, it's a large book and it's high fantasy, so you think it's going to be a little dense or hard to get through, but I promise you, it's not. The writing is beautiful in a very approachable way and I found myself immediately in love with that aspect of it. And on top of that, the story is incredibly interesting. I loved the main character, Kvothe. He's sassy and snarky in the best way. The "magic" system within this book (they don't call it magic, but it's basically magic) is really interesting and intricate. And, there's a magic school. Which is literally the best thing about this book. So good. Amazing. Love.

2) The Well of Ascension
(Mistborn #2)
by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 10/10

I have so much trouble being objective about this book series, but I feel like it's so great that I really don't need to be. The characters are awesome and have great development/character arcs. The plot is intriguing and the political finagling is really awesome. The magic system is pretty much my favorite magic system. There are some really awesome twists and turns. It's just so good. Srlsy. This series is amazing.

1) The Final Empire
(Mistborn #1)
by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 10/10

And here we are. My favorite book of 2015. If you've been following me for any length of time, this comes as no surprise. If you've been reading this list so far, it should come as no surprise. This book impressed me so much. The magic system is so well-constructed and explained so well. The characters are awesome. The plot is awesome. The world-build is awesome. Literally everything is amazing. I've dubbed this book "my favorite book since Harry Potter" and I stand by that wholeheartedly. This is the best book I've read since the first time I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If you love fantasy and you haven't read this book, please. Please. PLEASE. Read this trilogy.

Well, that was a marathon, so I'm not even going to do some sort of spiel here.
Check out my links, yo. Comment if you feel so inclined. 

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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Summer Wrap-up!

Hey, y'all! Back in April, I did a monthly wrap-up post and mentioned that I might make it into a monthly series. Obviously, that hasn't happened... for several reasons. I had a lot of posts going up at the end of the month during each month in the summer, but the main reason I didn't do them is that my life isn't that interesting. I don't do that much. But enough interesting stuff happened throughout the summer that it warranted a wrap-up post. I'll also be discussing my monthly favorites! Let's get right into it!

The first, most obvious thing that I did this summer was my summer reading challenge. If you followed my blog at all throughout the summer, you probably already knew that. But, if you haven't seen anything about it, you can click here to check it out! It was definitely a big challenge for me, but I'm really glad that I decided to do it, because I got through 26 books in only 3 months! I'm really happy with the amount of reading I got done in May, June, and July.

Now, let's get into everything that went on in my life during each month!


May

As I mentioned in my April post, May began with finals. My finals were actually really early this year, and my last one was on May 2nd. Normally, I would almost immediately begin moving out after finishing my finals, but since I was working in the library on campus over the summer, I actually just got to chill out for a week before starting work. Both of my roommates moved out and went home, leaving me with a huge triple to myself! But the joy didn't last for long. Mid-May, I moved into summer housing. Let's just say it sucked. The dorm we lived in during the school year is one of the nicer dorms and we had a fairly large room. The room I lived in over the summer was very small, had bad lighting, and was in an older dorm with lots of pipes and a big window AC unit. It was a bit of a disaster.

Besides moving into my summer room, not much really went on in May. I worked 40 hours a week during the weekdays and relaxed in my room on the weekends... and didn't really do much else. 


May Favorites

The Mole

For those of you who have never heard of The Mole, it was a reality TV show from the early 2000s. There are 5 seasons. The first two are with regular people, the 3rd and 4th are with celebrities, and the 5th season was a regular people reboot circa 2008. The premise of the tv show is that a large group of people are competing to win money for a group pot that one of them will win. But the catch is that one person in the group is "The Mole," a saboteur hidden among the group who is working with the producers to keep the group from winning money. The contestants are attempting to discover who the mole is, while simultaneously trying to win money, and the home viewers also don't know who the mole is. At the end of each episode, contestants take a quiz where they have to answer questions about the mole's identity. The person who scores lowest on the quiz is eliminated. 

I first discovered the show last summer and watched the first two seasons. In May, I ended up re-watching the first two seasons and watching all 3 of the other seasons for the first time. If there were more seasons, I would have watched those too. I love this show. Oh, and the gif is of Anderson Cooper (who hosted the first two seasons and is half the reason it's amazing) being adorable after tricking the contestants into thinking he was about to eliminate someone. 

Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess was by far my favorite book that I read in the month of May. I read almost all of it in a single sitting, and it was absolutely beautiful. It quickly and unquestionably became one of my favorite books. Often, I have to give quite a bit of thought into what rating to give a book, but this one was a no brainer. 10/10 immediately.



June

June 1st, one of my school-year roommates got back to school for her internship that she was doing over the summer. We weren't living together because all of the summer rooms were just doubles, but it was nice to have one of my best friends back on campus. 

My birthday was on June 10th, and my parents were able to drive down to visit me, and they got there the same day my summer roommate (who I also live with during the school year!) came back to campus. So I spent the weekend with them and then my grandparents were supposed to fly in on Monday morning. Unfortunately, my grandparents' plane was delayed because of bad weather, so they didn't arrive until late that night. That afternoon, however, I took my parents to meet my bosses, and they actually bought me a cake and brought it in for all of us to eat!
  
 I love my bosses. They're some of the sweetest people ever. So, that night, my grandparents finally got in and I got to spend just a little bit of time with them that night. 

The next day, I showed them around my campus and introduced them to my bosses. We got to go out to dinner and then we picked up my cake and met up with my roommates to eat the cake.


My roommate Erin (the one on the right, who I wasn't living with over the summer) gave me a Wreck This Journal, which I was really excited to start using. Sarah, however, got... creative.
It's a running joke. We got Erin a wand for her birthday as well. We're all basically 5 year olds trapped in 20 year olds' bodies. Also, my smile is so weird because the icing on the cake turned our teeth black. Oops.

After my birthday, June wasn't really too interesting. It was basically just like May: work, chill, repeat.

June Favorites

Top Chef

Top Chef has been one of my favorite TV shows since 8th grade. So basically for 7 years *cue Kristen stopping and realizing that junior high was literally SEVEN YEARS AGO and that she's currently a 20 year old college junior* I have watched this show religiously. Well... lately not so much, but the first few seasons are perfection. Hulu added basically every episode of Top Chef, so I ended up making my way through *almost* all of the first five seasons while at work. I didn't quite make it to the end of season 5, because that was when the season started going downhill, and when the show started going downhill as well. Season 2 was the best season by far (followed by season 3, and then seasons 1&4 are tied). The only reason season 4 gets to tie with 1 is because RICHARD BLAIS. AKA my favorite contestant ever on Top Chef ever. Anyway, season 2, head-shaving incident. It will live forever in infamy. 


American Horror Story: Murder House

I had been meaning to watch this show for a really long time, but I have a very long list of shows that I've wanted to get to for a long time. I was in the mood, so I went for it. Season 1 was great. Haunted houses are my favorite haunted things. And Evan Peters as Tate totally has a Kurt Cobain vibe and I love it and I love him. I watched about half of season 2 before getting disinterested. I didn't dislike it, but I definitely couldn't get into it as much as season 1. If season 3 had been up on Netflix, I'd probably have just watched that, because I know I'd like it. But season 1 was great. I'll get to the other 2 eventually. 



July

Just like May and June, only one really interesting thing happened in July... the Fourth of July! One of my friends had an Independence Day party, where we ate lots of food and set off lots of fireworks. It was lots of fun.


So yeah, the fourth of July was really fun, but it was really the only exciting thing that happened in the month of July.

July Favorites

The Pilgrims of Rayne by DJ MacHale

This one shocked me. I always considered it to be one of the worst in the series (partially due to its terrible cover) but upon a re-read, it's unquestionably my favorite. I wish I could erase my memories of reading it and then go back and re-read it so that I could experience all of the shock and awe that goes along with it.


My Top 15 Stand-alones

I promise that this isn't just some shameless plug. I actually really enjoyed writing this post. I mean, I enjoy writing every post, but I especially enjoyed this one. I'm not quite sure exactly why I enjoyed it so much, but it was just a lot of fun and I got to see how some of my favorite books stacked up against each other... quite literally!



August

August is when things started to get really great. August first, Erin, Sarah, and I were able to move out of summer housing into our new apartment! Erin liked her summer room, but Sarah and I were very, very ready to move. Not only was our room completely cramped, but it had become ant and gnat infested and super gross. We wanted out of that place ASAP. And it didn't hurt that our new apartment is gorgeous...


The only tiny complaint is that the apartments were designed to have one person in each bedroom, but when our school took it over, they put two people per room. So our spaces are a little... cozy.

This is my side of mine & Erin's room. There's also an entry into the room with our closet, and on the wall across from my bed, I have my desk and bookshelf... but you can't see that yet because I'll be making a post all about my bookshelf later. 

After spending the entire weekend of August 1st-3rd moving, I packed up again on Monday and hopped on a plane to visit my parents! I spent a week there, and it was a nice and relaxing break from work and pretty much any responsibilities at all. It was great. 

And that pretty much catches y'all up with everything that has been going on with me this summer. Classes start today (well tomorrow, but I'm scheduling this for tomorrow, so... you get it) but I only have work-study and orchestra, so I have a pretty light schedule... until Thursday. That's when I start doing research assistant stuff out the wazoo. WOOT. 


August Favorites

Problem by Pentatonix

So, I will admit that I have listened to the original version of this song (by Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea) a grand total of 0 times. All the way through, at least. So I wasn't extremely excited about Pentatonix covering it. I knew it would be great because it's PTX and everything they do is amazing, but I wasn't crazy excited. The day their EP went up for pre-order, I pre-ordered it, being the obsessed fan that I am. With that came this song, and the music video was released the same day. I then proceeded to listen to exactly 0 other songs for about a week. I'm not exaggerating. This song is probably my most played song on my iTunes at this point, but I don't want to plug in my phone and prove myself right.


Dare MattG

If you're unaware, this guy is Matt. His Youtube channel is MattG124, and every Friday, he does "Dare MattG" (That thing on the internet where you dare me to do some things and sometimes I do those things that you dare me to do). Anyway, since he's been doing it for almost 3 years and has had a few breaks from doing it, he has a little over 90 Dare MattG videos. Before starting this marathon, I think I had seen like 2. I've now seen 1-75. And I'm working on the last 20ish. I've loved his videos for forever, but never got into Dare MattG. And now I've seen the light.



This brings me to infinity and beyond... er... what my plans are for the immediate future.

I'm working with my advisor as her research assistant, so that's going to take up a lot of time. Plus, I have 2 300 level psychology classes this semester, which is intimidating. I also have a 100 level music class, but I'm not really concerned about that. I probably wouldn't be too fazed by taking 4 400 level music classes, honestly. Anyway, I also have the same work-study job as well as ensemble classes and private lessons and orchestra (for which I'm now the viola section leader, so YAY). Plus the many many hours I'll be devoting to research assistant stuff, which I don't even want to think about right now. Let's just say that I'm glad I dropped my fourth class.   

I'll be posting an update on schedule and such... soon. IDK when. Because I don't have a schedule yet. If you only knew how busy I am...

Don't forget that I've created a Facebook page for my blog! 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 this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!