On Vlogging Preference & Reviving My Blog [AKA an Update]

I remember being pulled to blogging several years before actually beginning to blog. As someone who's always had the desire to be a writer and even briefly considered doing journalistic writing, there's always been something incredibly appealing about being able to curate my own space on the internet full of my own writings and musings in whichever form I want. Finally, in 2012, I went for it. I started this blog and started posting about Project Runway. I used it pretty casually throughout the end of high school all the way through the end of my freshman year of college.

And then, in the summer of 2013, I got serious. Without getting into too much detail, I lived with my parents over the summer in the small town they'd recently moved to, and I wasn't enjoying it. I didn't know anyone, I had a job in customer service that was kinda miserable, and also felt like I was regressing from "independent adult at college" to "kid at home with parents." Definitely not the best of times. And I found myself throwing basically all of my free time into blogging. I did a lot of fun 30 Day Challenges and CDs On My Shelf posts, and one of my rant-y posts about a scam company actually went semi-viral. Even today, when you search the company, it's near the top of the search results.

I kept this up for quite a while, posting as frequently as possible, and trying to get into a routine. And then, right at the end of 2013, I discovered BookTube. I've always been a huge reader, but in college, I hadn't really been making much time to leisure reading... but BookTube re-sparked that interest. It led to my blog taking a very book-heavy turn. I was essentially doing BookTube-esque videos, but in blog form. Wrap ups, book hauls, reading challenges, etc. But by mid- 2014, that wasn't quite enough for me anymore. I wanted to make BookTube videos. I wanted to reach a wider audience and talk about books with more people. I wanted to actually have a comment section and to interact with people about books instead of seeing a decent view count with zero comments.

So, I started a BookTube channel. I posted a couple videos in the summer of 2014, and then began posting regularly at the end of 2014. And that's been my main focus ever since. Video was never my primary desired form of communication-- it's so much easier to say exactly what you mean when you can type and edit-- but I've enjoyed vlogging for the 2.5 years I've been doing it. I don't have a huge audience, but most of my videos get comments, and I do actually get to interact with people and get feedback. And as that's been going on, I've been less and less devoted to this blog.

Obviously, it hasn't been inactive. At least, not completely. Most of the time, I still post once or twice a month, but my post count has continually gone down over the past 2.5 years, and especially since the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. I think I posted a grand total of 12 blogs throughout the school year. And the main reason for that... is my vlogging preference.

What I mean by this is that, since I reach a wider audience on YouTube and I get to interact with people more often on there, whenever I get a good idea for a topic to talk about, it almost always gets put on the "vlog" list rather than the "blog" list. I always think "no, this is a topic I want to talk to people about, and that'll work better on my YouTube," and end up putting almost every idea down in the "vlog" column, delegating only my obscure TV show rankings to my blog. Because apparently, everything else is "too good" for my blog. I've had so many ideas that would probably be communicated better in blog form that I've posted on YouTube instead simply because I can converse with more people about it and reach a wider audience on there. That's obviously not an invalid reason, but I hate that I've turned this blog into something deserving of only my most niche, obscure interests and nothing else.

So, what's my point? My point is that you should prepare yourself for more diverse content. I'm hoping to do 30 Day Challenges again, and to post some discussions and just general updates. Maybe even favorites posts. And definitely some book reviews once I get around to it. I'm still definitely going to be doing my niche rankings posts because I freakin' love them, but I want to do more interesting stuff on here, and I want it to be more than just the spill-over from my YouTube. I want it to contain lots of different, diverse things. After all, it IS supposed to be the diverse and random thoughts in my brain.

Also, I say this at the end of every post, but please, make sure to comment on stuff! One of the most motivating things ever is seeing someone interacting with something I've posted. I love fangirling over my favorite topics, so feel free to join me.

That's about all I wanted to say in this post. The summertime is always when I have the most spare time, so I always feel really inspired and motivated to get creative and write/blog/vlog a lot, so I hope to be really active on here over the next three months (and the future too, but grad school is hard, y'all)!

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Calling All Fans of The Mole!

I'm a self-proclaimed reality TV junkie. My list of favorite TV shows consists of mostly reality competitions. For the longest time, I refused to admit to myself how completely obsessed I was with reality TV, but that's definitely become a thing of the past. Over the years, I've discovered more and more reality shows that have been added to my favorites list. But, in recent memory, none of them has stuck with me quite as much as the purported "smartest reality show ever," The Mole. 

Quite honestly, there isn't a ton of discussion online anymore about the Mole, given its age, but I know that the fandom is small but mighty, given the things that I do see popping up around the internet (Rob Has A Podcast episodes, Twitter hashtags, and the constant questioning of Anderson Cooper). Because of this (and my obsession with the show) I came up with the idea of doing a blog series- or starting a separate blog- for all things related to The Mole. My ideas are all over the place right now, but I wanted to throw it out there to see who bites.

For the uninitiated, allow me to explain. In the Mole, a group of contestants compete in missions/games, each of which can earn them money for the group pot that a single contestant will win in the end. But, there's a catch. One of the contestants is a saboteur-- The Mole. This person is not competing for the money, but is instead working with production to sabotage the missions and make the group lose games, thus keeping them from earning money. The real contestants' prime objective is to discover which among them is the mole. At the end of each episode, they take a quiz, and whichever contestant scores the worst on the quiz is executed (eliminated from the competition), whittling down the contestants. Only the last 3 people make it to finale, where there is a winner, a loser, and a mole. 

Throughout the season, the audience is also in the dark as to The Mole's identity, which is definitely the most fun part of the show. Viewers are given hints throughout the season to help them discover the identity of the Mole, alongside the player's confessionals and hypotheses about who the Mole could be. 

If you're like me and enjoy the hidden saboteur trope a la Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, this series will be like candy to you. Or caffeine. Or drugs. You get the point. It's addicting and you won't want to stop watching. But, unlike a lot of other reality shows, this game is really smart and keeps your brain active throughout the entire process. You find yourself making accusations constantly and often distrusting someone that you trusted just last episode. I can't say enough about how clever and fun this show is. 

Side note: Anderson Cooper is the best host of all time.

So that's my pitch. I'd definitely suggest that if you haven't checked it out and the premise sounds interesting, give it a shot. I don't think you'll be disappointed. All the US Seasons are available on YouTube, and will be linked at the end of this post. However, persuading you to watch the show isn't the main point of my post. Instead, it's to discuss this potential blog series. 

As aforementioned, I've been wanting to start this for a while, but I have a ton of different ideas as to what to do with it, and I could use some guidance. I think that, at least as a starting point, I'd like to go episode by episode doing recaps and discussing everything going on. I think that the best way to do this would be to have a spoiler-free section of each post for newbies that might be reading, but then a spoiler-filled section at the end where I can discuss the clues and Mole activity throughout the episode. Other ideas that I think would be fun include rankings of the seasons and rankings of the moles. Maybe best winner rankings as well.  

Past that, I could use some advice. Mole fans, what would you like to see from a blog series on The Mole? What topics would you want to discuss? What do you think would be most helpful for the newbies in these posts?

Mole newbies: If you'd like to follow along with my posts and watch the show as I discuss it, that would be awesome! I'm going to start with US season 1 and work my way through in order. It'll be about a month before I get anything started (because I'm finishing up a series on Project Runway designer rankings), but I hope to get things going sometime in August. 

Let me know down in the comments what ideas you might want to see in a potential Mole series and what you think of the ideas I've discussed in the post!

The Mole (US) on YouTube:

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

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Review: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson [Spoiler Free!]

I don’t even know where to start with this book. Obviously, I should start with what the book is about. But I’m not really sure that I can do it justice. Or explain it in a way that makes sense. But I’m going to try.

Warbreaker is a high fantasy novel following a slew of characters as two kingdoms, Idris and Hallandren, are on the brink of war with each other. There are way too many to explain here, but here are the highlights:

- A princess from Idris who is betrothed to the God King in Hallandren.

- Her sister, set on saving her sister and seeing her returned safely to Idris.

- A lesser god named Lightsong the Brave who isn’t quite sure how he received that title.

- Vasher. A bit of an enigma, and would prefer to keep it that way.  

The first thing that really drew me to this book was its prologue. A couple months back, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to read and I was half trying to pick something just based on what I was in the mood for, but I also was trying to read something fast-paced that I could get through quickly. I pulled 5 books from my shelves and read the first few pages just to see what would grab me, and this one grabbed me so much that I ended up reading the entirety of the prologue. Unfortunately, I wanted to be done with whatever book I chose within a few days, and I wasn’t sure that I could do that with a book that was 600+ pages, especially since I was still in classes. So I set it aside, waiting for the right time to pick it up again. And at the end of May, that’s exactly what I did. And full disclosure, I freakin’ loved it. But I’m going to try to be accurate and critical in my review so it’s not just me gushing about how much I loved everything.

This is my 7^th Brandon Sanderson book. Before this, I’d read his Mistborn trilogy, the first book in his Rithmatist series, and the first two books in his Reckoners trilogy (which I’ll be finishing ASAP—I’ve been waiting for my physical copy of Calamity to reach me). So far, I have yet to be disappointed by a book that he’s written, so he’s rather quickly climbing to the top of my favorite authors list.

As with all of Sanderson’s adult work, Warbreaker takes place within the Cosmere. If you’re unfamiliar with the Cosmere, it would take me far too long to explain, so I won’t go too in-depth. Basically, it’s a universe with several different worlds. So far, none of the stories from separate worlds have overlapped (AKA you won’t be spoiled for Mistborn if you read Warbreaker or vice versa) but eventually, once more Cosmere books are published, I believe that many things should come together at some point. I don’t know the full scope or breadth of this, because I haven’t even gotten through all of the Cosmere books that have been published so far, but it’s a pretty large-scale endeavor.

OK, so now let’s talk about the world that Warbreaker takes place upon. As always, Sanderson’s world-build is impressive. Both of the kingdoms within this world are rather distinct, with completely different religions and beliefs, which are constantly prominent and discussed throughout. Both are well fleshed-out, intricate, and rather interesting. In this world, there is a magic system called Breath or BioChroma. I don’t want to ruin anything for you (part of the fun is learning all of the intricacies of the magic system) so I won’t go into too much detail here. Essentially, this magic system is based around color. Breath can be used in various ways when used in combination with color. And that’s about all I’m willing to say about the magic system, because it’s just really interesting to learn about throughout the book. It’s just really intricate and really intriguing to learn about.

The characters in this book are also a major strong point. There are a lot of really interesting characters, and they all have really strong character arcs. My personal favorite character to follow was Lightsong, a lesser god. He's really funny and sarcastic, and I found myself always wanting to delve deeper into his character and learn more about his backstory. Another character who was a highlight for me was Vasher. The prologue is from his POV, and that's initially what drew me in, and I immediately wanted to learn more and more about this really mysterious individual. And then there are the two princesses- Siri, who's very happy-go-lucky, and Vivenna, who's very disciplined. When the book begins, they're presented as polar opposites, but as they begin to develop as characters, you realize that they might be a bit more similar than expected. And in addition to those, there are numerous other side characters who constantly keep you on your toes and guessing as to who you can and can't trust. 

Because there are so many interesting characters, we also get a really interesting plot. Each character has their own interesting motivation and storyline, and all of those plots are woven together in extremely interesting ways. Sanderson is an amazing writer and knows just when to cut out from a scene and leave you wanting more so that you'll be invested to keep reading. I'd say that this is more of a slower paced book-- a fantasy driven by political maneuvering and intrigue rather than constant battles-- but that's one of the things that I really loved about it. As you continue through the book, you uncover new mysteries to be solved while simultaneously slowly unraveling other mysteries. It's just an intricate, well-crafted plot that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

So, as you can tell from the above ramblings, I thought pretty much every aspect of this book was a strong point. The characters, the plot, the world, and the magic system were all incredibly intriguing and I found myself getting incredibly invested into everything going on. I ended up giving Warbreaker 10 stars out of 10, which of course translates to 5 out of 5 on Goodreads. Seriously, Brandon Sanderson is a master of his craft and has me believing that he can do no wrong.

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How I Rate Books! [2016 Update]

Hey, y'all! So, I've been doing a lot of reading. I know what you're thinking: "Kristen, you always do a lot of reading!" and to that I would say, "Well yeah. Kinda." I got a bit slumpy last year. A lot. And now that I've gotten back in the groove of reading a lot (12 books in February, 9 in March!) I've realized that my descriptions of ratings no longer accurately describe my reasoning for giving out certain ratings. And what I mean by this is that (for example) I have descriptions explaining what a "6/10" means to me, and literally every time I give out a 6/10 rating, I think that the description no longer describes how I actually feel about that number rating. So, I'm going through and re-vamping everything. Below, you'll find the list of possible ratings (with some excluded-- you'll see why) as well as descriptions of what these mean to me and words/books that I associate with that specific rating.

Explanation/Changes

After using my previous rating system for ~ a year, I realized that it was very skewed toward enjoyment of a book. I realized that 95% of ratings I was giving were 3/5 or higher. And that's not necessarily how I actually feel about the books that I read. So, I decided to do something to fix that.

I personally give ratings out of 10 stars instead of 5. I feel that it allows for more accuracy/nuances within my system. However, I also have recently realized that I do still rely heavily upon the 5 star system. I discovered that my personal feelings toward a book tend to dictate the star rating out of 5, while my critical eye dictates where within that star rating the book falls. Allow me to explain by giving you my description of each rating out of 5, as well as the "10 star" breakdown within those.

Ratings out of 5:

5 STAR RATING

If I give a book 5/5 stars on Goodreads, it means I really loved that book. Like, a lot. I could have a couple problems with it, but my feelings are strong enough about the book that I ignore them. 

Ratings out of 10 within this rating: 10/10 & 9.5/10

4 STAR RATING

If I give a book 4/5 stars on Goodreads, it means I really liked the book. Books within favorite series tend to be 4/5 or higher. These are books that I enjoyed that will also stay with me. They may not have been as amazingly outstanding as their 5/5 counterparts, but they're ones that I thoroughly enjoyed and that will stick with me.

Ratings out of 10 within this rating: 8/10 - 9/10

3 STAR RATING

If I give a book 3/5 stars on Goodreads, it means I liked it. I enjoyed reading it, and it *probably* didn't have any huge, glaring problems. The key difference between 3 and 4 star books is that 3 star books don't stick with me as much. They're not going to show up on any favorites lists, but they're also not going to show up on any least favorites lists. 

Ratings out of 10 within this rating: 6/10 - 7.5/10

2 STAR RATING

If I give a book 2/5 stars on Goodreads, it means I had definite problems with it. If I think about a book and the first thing that comes to my mind is a laundry list of problems I had with it, it's probably here. It's likely not an outright hatred of the book, but I just didn't like it. Maybe it wasn't my thing or there were aspects that I thought were bad, but either way, my overall thoughts about it are negative ones. This is also my "most likely to lie to myself rating." I don't know how many times I've given a book a low 3/5 only to change it to 2/5 later because I'd been trying to convince myself that I liked it. 

Ratings out of 10 within this rating: 4/10 - 5.5/10

1 STAR RATING

If I give a book 1/5 stars on Goodreads, it means I strongly disliked the book. I like to call this my "kill it with fire" rating. Unlike a 2 star rating, when I think of this book, I don't automatically think of its problems. I automatically think of my complete disgust for the book.You're probably wondering why this one takes up the largest numerical range, and that's just because I give it out so infrequently. Rarely do I pick up a book that I loathe, and rarely do I make it all the way through a book that I really don't like. However, this rating stays here, ready for whatever awful book I see fit to put into it eventually.   

Ratings out of 10 within this rating: 0/10 - 3.5/10


Ratings out of 10:

(and books that are examples of that rating)

10/10: Literal perfection. My mind is blown and I probably just want to hug it.
Examples of 10 star books:  The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson & The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

9.5/10: I still absolutely love this book, but I either have some small problems with it or there's something indefinable about it that makes me feel like it's not quite a 10 star book.
Examples of 9.5 star books: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell & Night Film by Marisha Pessl

9/10: I really enjoyed this book, and it's right at the upper end of the 4/5 spectrum, but I just can't bring myself to give it a full 5/5. I kinda view this as an -A. Really good, but not quite amazing. A key aspect that gets a book up to a 9 (instead of an 8.5) is that typically, there's a specific aspect that really impresses me, whether that's world building, the characters, etc.
Examples of 9 star books: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson & The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen

8.5/10: This book is really great, and I really enjoy it. This book is really solid and it's definitely going to stick with me. I may have had a couple problems with it, but it's overall very strong across every aspect.
Examples of 8.5 star books: The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen & City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

8/10: I really enjoy this book and it will definitely still stick with me, but I found some problems. Technically, this book might borderline a 3/5 rating because of the quality, but I enjoyed it enough that I felt that it deserved a 4/5 rating.
Examples of 8 star books: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie & Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley

7.5/10: On the flip side of the 8/10, this one borders on 4/5, but doesn't quite get there because I didn't enjoy it quite as much. I find problems with it, but it gets a rating within the 3/5 rating because of my enjoyment more than because of the quality.
Examples of 7.5 star books: Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman & Lexicon by Max Barry

7/10: I like this book, but I don't think that it's particularly special. I enjoyed it, and might think that it's a fun read, but it didn't really impress me in any way. It's missing some sort of depth, uniqueness, or freshness that's present in books with higher ratings.
Examples of 7 star books: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs & Murder After Hours by Agatha Christie

6.5/10: Essentially the same reasoning as 7/10, but I like it less than I like a 7 star book/have more problems with it.
Examples of 6.5 star books: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

6/10: Once again, the same reasoning as the two before it, but right at the bottom of books that I can still say that I like.
Examples of 6 star books: In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Ten by Gretchen McNeil

5.5/10: I didn't like this book, but I also don't hate this book. I found a lot of problems with it. I guess my feelings toward it could be described as vague dislike or indifference. 4.5-5.5 are about the same in the fact that I have a vague dislike or indifference toward them, but the variance between them is mostly in how I feel about them quality-wise. As stated in the 2/5 description, the first thing I tend to think of with these books are the problems I have with it. And the more problems, the lower the rating.
Examples of 5.5 star books: Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie & Where Futures End by Parker Peevyhouse

5/10: Like with the previous rating, I have a vague dislike or indifference toward this book. With this rating, the indifference is probably the strongest because it is exactly in the middle. And, it should go without saying, but I had a lot of problems with this book.
Examples of 5 star books: Ghosted Vol. 1: Haunted Heist by Joshua Williamson

4.5/10: Once again, this is pretty much the same as the two before it, but there's more of a dislike and the quality is lower. If I give a book this rating, I once again had problems with it, but I could see myself saying that I dislike it.
Examples of 4.5 star books: Wildflower by Janine Carbone & Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

4/10: I'm not quite to hatred of this book, but I could definitely say that I dislike it. As noted in the 2/5 rating description, the first thing that comes to mind with this book is still a laundry list of problems rather than "I hated it."
Examples of 4 star books: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi & The Leveller by Julia Durango

3.5 & lower: If I give a book 3.5 or lower (AKA 1/5), I really disliked this book. When I think of it, my immediate reaction is "ugh, I hate that book."
Examples of 3.5 & lower books: Looking for Alaska by John Green

So, that's it for my re-working of my ratings! I've tried very hard to make everything as clear as possible, but let me know down in the comments if there's anything that you're confused about or would like clarified.

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Book Discussions #3

*Pre-post disclaimer/apology: So, the books on this list are all books I read a while back. My intent with these was to get the post up ASAP but clearly, that didn't happen. Eventually, I just decided to go ahead and post it as-is. Not sure if I'm going to continue to do my written reviews this way. I might begin writing individual reviews instead. Anyway, enjoy the reviews!*

Hey, y'all! I'm back again for another Book Discussions post! In these posts, I do discussions for every single book I read. This was going to be just for stand-alones, but I realized that (even though I wish I could) I can't marathon every series that I read. So single books within series will be included within these as well. If I read 2+ books of a series back-to-back, they'll get their own posts. I plan on including 6-7 books per post, so new discussion posts will be up after every 6-7 books I read, give or take a few.  These discussions will be entirely spoiler-free and fairly short.

Also, I try to write these discussions within a day of finishing the book. so even if it's been a few months since I've read a book, the discussions were completed when the book was still fresh in my mind. So here we go!

Murder After Hours
(originally titled The Hollow)
by Agatha Christie

Read: January 4th, 2015

This is one of the books in Agatha Christie's Poirot series, a series centered around a brilliant detective named Hercule Poirot. In this book, a weekend in the country turns into the scene of the murder, and of course, Poirot is on the case.

I read somewhere that Agatha Christie said that her biggest mistake with this book was introducing Poirot into it. And I kinda agree. This had a very different feel for me than other Poirot novels. I almost didn't care about who committed the crime, which was very odd. Typically, with the Poirot novels, I don't really care too much about the characters except Poirot. However, that was exactly the opposite. Often, Poirot's presence or absence wasn't important, and I was more concerned with how the characters would end up once everything was said and done. And while I don't necessarily have a problem with this, it just all makes it not seem like a Poirot novel, which is what I set out to read. I chose to read this Poirot novel because it sounded like it would have a very Clue-esque vibe (dinner party at a mansion, person is murdered, everyone starts blaming everyone) and the book definitely didn't have that at all. Overall, it just didn't read like a Poirot novel, and that was its biggest problem for me.

Overall, I gave Murder After Hours 7 stars out of 10.

Wildflower
by Janine Carbone

Read: February 7th, 2015

*I received a free ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

I only had a couple complaints, so I'll talk about all of the positives before touching on those. First off, I really enjoyed the way that the flashbacks were mixed in with the main plot. I thought that it was really intriguing and it kept me guessing as to what had happened in Faith's past. I also really enjoyed Faith as a character. As a college student who spends most of my time in my apartment, there were several aspects of her personality that I really connected with.

I thought that the second half of the book was especially thrilling. I was constantly wondering what was about to happen or when something big would happen, and when crazy stuff did start happening, I couldn't put the book down. In fact, I found myself accidentally skipping entire lines because I was trying to read faster than my brain could actually comprehend, because I was just so curious about what was going to happen. That being said, however, I did think that there were a few predictable aspects. I figured out several things about the stalker long before they were revealed in the book

The only real problems that I had happened within the first 50 pages. I felt like there was a little too much telling vs. showing when it came to describing things. This ended up creating the only other real issue that I had with the book: the beginning of the romance. I thought that the beginning stages of the romance were very rushed. We see the very beginning and then jump forward in time twice in very quick succession. For me, this made the relationship seem slightly hard to believe at the beginning. Although it's made very clear that we have jumped forward a significant amount of time, it's hard to think of it as a serious relationship when they met ~20 pages earlier. I really wish that this portion of the romance was fleshed out a little bit more, because I think it would have added a little bit more to the book. I understand why this was a little rushed through, because all of the important events occur after this, but I think it could have been a little more fleshed out without ruining the pacing.

Overall, I thought that this was a really exciting, fast-paced read. If you're looking for a quick and exciting psychological thriller that's deeper than average, I would definitely recommend Wildflower!

I ended up giving Wildflower 7 stars out of 10.

Ten
by Gretchen McNeil

Read: February 24th, 2015

I had my eye on this one for a while, but didn't have very high hopes for it. Ten is basically a re-telling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, which is my personal favorite stand-alone novel of all time... which is why I didn't have very high hopes for it.

Because I've read And Then There Were None, I did expect some things that I think would have been a surprise to anyone who hadn't read And Then There Were None. And I think that the changes made to the original story were cleverly done. Even though I wasn't surprised by any of the twists, I didn't figure out who the killer was until just a little bit before it was revealed. I was fairly convinced that it was someone else. So I applaud Gretchen McNeil for that.

Now on to the not-so-great. Until the deaths started happening, almost everything was really cringey. I know that a good chunk of it was purposeful to highlight how obnoxious many of the characters are, but there was definitely some dialogue that I thought was completely stupid. It reminded me why I don't usually read books that deal with teens who are actually in high school. I'll read about teenagers all day long, but when they get into a normal high school setting they just tend to get obnoxious. On top of this, the writing overall was just meh. I usually don't tend to notice how good or bad writing is, but I definitely noticed in this book. It wasn't down-right awful, but it definitely wasn't written amazingly. It was also pretty heavy on the foreshadowing. A little more subtlety would have helped tremendously.

Despite the cringey moments, Ten was very fast-paced, and I ended up finishing it in one day because I was just too curious to see what was going to happen. So, I ended up giving Ten 7.5 stars out of 10.

Evil Under The Sun
by Agatha Christie

Read: February 26th, 2015

Once again, this is a part of Agatha Christie's Poirot series. In this book, Hercule Poirot is vacationing on an island. And one morning, one of the guests, a beautiful actress, is found murdered.

I was surprisingly really disappointed in this book. I typically spend the entirety of a Poirot book just sitting and pointing the finger at everyone. I get really invested in trying to figure out who did it. But in this, I found myself just not caring. Sure, I had suspicions and hunches, but none that I particularly cared about or felt adamant about. I dunno, I just had an overwhelming sense of meh with this book. It gets slight bonus points for the fact that the mystery was intricately crafted, but that's usual of Poirot books, so it wasn't as if I wasn't expecting that.

I ended up giving Evil Under The Sun 5.5 stars out of 10. Like I said, that bonus .5 is for the intricacy of the mystery.

The Body Electric
by Beth Revis

Read: March 7th, 2015

Beth Revis has solidified her spot among my favorite authors with The Body Electric. I've talked a bit about how much I appreciate excellent world-building, and how important world-building is to my enjoyment of a book... and Beth Revis gives me pretty much everything I could ever want. The technology is super cool. I feel like this would be a good read for someone wanting to get into sci-fi, because the technology is explained in enough detail to make sense and be interesting, but Revis doesn't bore you with long explanations about how everything works... which wouldn't actually be boring to me, but I was happy with the explanations we got.

Also, it takes place within the same universe as Revis' Across The Universe trilogy. However, since this takes place in the future of the Across The Universe world, and is set on Earth rather than space, that doesn't really have a huge effect on this book because the technology and world are very different from the trilogy. There are, however, a couple Easter eggs that Across The Universe fans will appreciate.

However, there was one aspect that kept gnawing at me and slightly bothered me (not a spoiler-- promise!). So, right from the beginning, the Secessionary War is mentioned. There are a lot of things about the war that are discussed. We see how life is after the war, we learn about some events during the war, but it's never really explained how the war started or what was being fought for. Obviously, "secessionary" speaks for itself, but who was seceding? How did it start? This never got answered, and that really bothered me because it was the only hole in the world-build.

I do feel like the blurb about this slightly misconstrues some of the things in this book, namely the Reveries. The blurb makes it sound like reveries are something only Ella can do because she has special powers, but that's not the case. It's actually a technology that other people can and do use. However, special abilities do make an appearance in this book, so I'm not too bothered by it, because I don't think anyone would be put off by that difference. Just go into it expecting sci-fi/dystopian, not paranormal/dystopian.

Overall, I liked the story. The majority of it was pretty fast-paced, and full of twists and turns. With about 100 pages in, I had been considering it a 9 star book. I was really loving it, and there were definitely some twists and turns that I didn't see coming, but there were a couple things that were unsurprising. However, those last 100 pages... WHOA. So many plot twists. So much craziness. Mind blown. I could not put the book down. It was just utter craziness and I loved it.

I decided to give The Body Electric 9.5 stars out of 10. Not quite perfection, but so amazing.

The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss

I have to admit, it took me a little while to get invested in the story. Right from the start, the writing was beautiful, but I wasn't quite sure what was going on yet, and there hadn't yet been any excitement, so until we got into Kvothe's story, I wasn't incredibly invested. However, once his story began, I was hooked. 

I will warn everyone going into this that it's not exactly a fast-paced book, because it is a story of Kvothe's life, rather than just a small snippet of an exciting part of his life. However, I typically enjoy slower novels more than most people. I appreciate, pay attention to, and care about world building more than the average reader, which is probably why I have such a deep love of high fantasy and dystopian novels. And in this book, we get incredible world building. One of the most interesting aspects of the book for me was learning about the system of magic within this world. It, just like everything else in this world, is really well fleshed out and just so incredibly detailed.

I also really like Kvothe as a character. He's really strong and determined. He knows what he wants, and he'll do whatever he has to in order to reach his goal. Although he does have the character flaw of being somewhat arrogant, that just makes him a bit more endearing to me, because although I don't express it like he does, I definitely have an arrogant streak.

Even though this is a large book, and it did take me a while to read it, and it was a slower book, it never felt like a task. There was a section that was a little slower, but it wasn't a huge section (I'll discuss further in the spoilers) and so it really didn't bother me, especially since the following section was my favorite part of the book.

So, overall, I just absolutely loved this book. I can absolutely understand why it has a 4.5 average on Goodreads. The writing was amazing, as was everything else about this book. 10 stars out of 10. I'm officially obsessed.

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The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A Nielsen [Discussion]

Hey, y'all! So, I just finished the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen, and since I marathoned the trilogy, I decided to do a single post devoted to discussing the trilogy.

For each book, I'll be doing a spoiler-free discussion, followed by the rating that I gave the book (A note though: these discussions WILL spoil the previous books in the series. To discuss book two, I have to talk about book 1, etc. So, if you haven't read book 1, don't read past the spoiler free discussion for book 1. I hope that made sense...). I'll then go into a spoilery discussion. Each of these discussions was written within 24 hours of finishing the book, and before moving on to the next one.

The False Prince

The False Prince centers around Sage, an orphan boy who is very clever, snarky, and a skilled thief. Sage is collected by Conner, a nobleman with a cunning plan. He needs an impersonator of the king's long lost son, and has recruited four orphan boys to compete for the role. But Sage will soon find out that things are much more complex than he originally thought. He must succeed... his life depends on it.

While I really enjoyed this book, I did have a couple problems with it. The biggest one was the twist. It didn't surprise me. I think there were some people who were surprised by it, but I just wasn't. When I heard that there was a twist, I thought "Oh I bet it's _______" and unfortunately, I was right. I was hoping the entire time that I was incorrect and that the book would surprise me, but it just didn't. And although it didn't hurt my overall reading experience, I was disappointed in it's predictability. That's not to say, however, that the book completely lacking surprises. There were definitely several smaller things which surprised me within the book.

The brightest spot for me was the main character, Sage. Sage is everything I love in a character. If I were to sort him in a Hogwarts house, he'd be a Slytherin. He's snarky, sarcastic, defiant, and proud, but he can back it up with his wit and cleverness. He can take care of himself and he's his own person and hates being ordered around. He's just super cool. 

I really appreciated the cleverness of the world building, The lessons are used both to teach the boys information that the prince should know, and to give us information about the world that the boys are living in. I also really enjoyed the plot. The book is about 350 pages, and there was never a dull moment. Sure, the entire book wasn't super fast-paced and crazy, but I was never bored and I never felt like the book dragged at all. And the last quarter of the book was just really epic, exciting, and fast-paced. 

Overall, I thought that this was a really great book. I ended up giving it 8.5 stars out of 10. (Which is 4/5 on Goodreads)

So there's really not much else to talk about except the plot twist itself. Honestly, when I heard that there was this major plot twist, I immediately thought "I bet the main character is actually the lost prince, pretending to be an orphan for whatever reason." and the entire book, I kept hoping that there would be some other twist and that I would be wrong for once (not trying to brag, this just happens an annoying number of times) but alas, I wasn't wrong. 

What did surprise me, however, was when Latimer was killed. That was the first really exciting thing that happened in the book, and it definitely did a great job of reeling me in. I also really enjoyed the little secrets that Sage keeps, such as the "gold" rock and actually being the one to steal the sword.

I think the last fourth of the book was definitely my favorite. Tobias attacks Sage, the boys have to hide in the tunnels, and then of course all the stuff that goes down once Sage actually gets to the castle. 

Since I'm writing this before continuing on to book 2, here are some things I hope to see going into the next book:

- As much as I like the name Jaron, I really hope that we get to continue to call him Sage. I don't think it's going to happen, but I'm going to continue to hope. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

- I really, really hope that a love triangle doesn't develop between the betrothed princess, Sage/Jaron, and Imogen. We just really don't need that. Imogen's the best. End of story.

The Runaway King

Book 2 opens with a bang as an assassination attempt stirs up trouble. War is coming, and the pressure is building. Jaron soon realizes that to save his kingdom, he might have to desert it. 

This book... there were points where I couldn't even deal with this book. It was so good. Like, I went into this series expecting to be blown away by book one because of all of the rave reviews, but The Runaway King is the clear star of this show (so far-- The Shadow Throne might impress me even more, who knows?!). The Runaway King was so fast-paced and action packed, and actually surprised me a lot more than The False Prince did! While there wasn't one big twist, there were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing the entire way through, and I was incredibly impressed. 

Also, I would just like to emphasize how much I love Jaron. Like, I'm willing to say right now that he is my favorite main character that I've ever read. Granted, main characters are almost never my favorite characters in their books/series, but Jaron is far and away my favorite character in this series. He's just too freakin' awesome. He's snarky and sarcastic and UGH he's great.

I enjoy The False Prince and The Runaway King for very different reasons, because even though they both have the same mood/feel/vibe, they are very different books. The False Prince is slower, but mysterious and intriguing, and I really enjoy when books are like that. However, The Runaway King is pure adventure. It's fast-paced and exciting, with thievery and pirates galore. I think that if I had actually been surprised by the twist in book 1, I might have rated it higher, because slow, intriguing, mysterious books with world-building are my fave. But since I wasn't surprised, I wasn't as impressed, and ended up enjoying The Runaway King more.

Overall, I really loved this book. This was super exciting and I enjoyed almost every second of it. I gave it 9.5 stars out of 10. (Which is 5/5 on Goodreads)

There were several times that I almost had to laugh out loud at this book. Jaron would get himself into a situation that seemed impossible to get out of and I would be like "Well how exactly do you expect to get yourself this terrible situation this time, Jaron? You're chained up in a cell perched over a cliff, and your leg is broken. I think you're officially stuck." And then what happens? Oh, he just casually climbs out the window and scales the cliff with his one good leg and then challenges the pirate king to a duel and wins. I mean, go you, Jaron. For real, he's just too dang epic!

I have to say, this book surprised me a lot more than The False Prince, even though I had expected the opposite. I did not see the Gregor thing coming. I got really annoyed with him and was sick of him trying to get someone to reign instead of Jaron, but I didn't think that he had betrayed the King by helping Conner. I was also really surprised that Jaron convinced Roden to come over to his side. I thought that there was absolutely no chance of it, but clearly he realized that he was being stupid.

Also, I am really annoyed at the love triangle thing, but I get why it is happening. Because clearly Imogen is the right girl for Jaron (RIGHT?! They have to end up together. PLZ, Jennifer Nielsen, let them end up together) but he has to be friendly with the Princess that he is betrothed to (who isn't terrible in the slightest, but Imogen.). And I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, because Nielsen clearly wants us to like Imogen and root for her to end up with Jaron, but it seems pretty unlikely and impossible at this point. The only redeeming thing about this love triangle is that it doesn't play an extremely prominent role. Yes, Jaron is constantly worried about Imogen, but that's just it... he's worried about Imogen. They're friends, and he's concerned about her and barely thinks about the princess. It isn't even until the end that romantic feelings are brought up, and even then, it's between Imogen and Jaron, but not Jaron and the Princess. Jaron and the Princess agree that they're friends. 

I know I'm being pushy here, but I'd rather just see a story where Imogen and Jaron really care about each other, but struggle to be together because of the war, the troubles they're going through, and they come from different classes. That would be so much better than a love triangle, even if they didn't end up together in the end. (and for the record, my ideal scenarios go: end up with Imogen = doesn't end up with anyone > ending up with the Princess. AKA, I like both of the first scenarios equally and am not a fan of the last one.)

The Shadow Throne

The Shadow Throne opens just as war is about to break out in Carthya. King Vargan has kidnapped Imogen, and Jaron embarks upon the journey to save everything that is most important to him. 

I thought that the conclusion to this trilogy was overall beautiful and emotional. There were several moments where I found tears falling from my eyes at moments of both despair and of joy. The Shadow Throne was an emotional roller coaster for me, going from wanting to throw the book, to wanting to hug it, to being down-right confused about what Jaron was doing. 

As wonderful as this conclusion was, however, it was not without its faults. Or rather, singular fault. As I said in the spoilery discussion of The Runaway King, there were several moments throughout this trilogy where I sat and thought, "Well how exactly do you expect to get yourself this terrible situation this time, Jaron?" and then he managed to come up with this crazy scheme that ended up working. And for the first two books, I really loved this, and I loved seeing him succeed in them because it was always so epic when he did. However, in this one it wasn't really like that some of the time. 

There were a couple times when I had to kind of suspend my disbelief. Some things were a little too coincidental for them to be perfectly planned out, and sometimes I just couldn't bring myself to believe that he had come up with that plan for the scenario he was in. It wasn't an overwhelming sense of "this is stupid," but rather a slight "meh, not sure if that's really that logical," and it didn't detract from my overall opinion about the book.

The Shadow Throne was also slightly less surprising than The Runaway King. There were a couple twists that were unsurprising, but there were also several things that I didn't see coming. 

Overall, I thought that this was an epic conclusion to the trilogy and ended up giving it 9 stars out of 10. 

So, as I was saying with the "suspending my disbelief" part of my discussion, I thought that there were a few plans that were a bit too coincidental. And I wanted one of Jaron's plans to epically fail at least once. But somehow, he managed to succeed constantly, and that bothered me. It was a little too neat and tidy. Everything wrapped up very nicely, but a little too nicely. 

Also, I wasn't surprised in the least bit when we found out Imogen was still alive. Honestly, I was waiting for it. I was acutely aware that there was still a chance she was actually dead, but unless the main character actually like sees the corpse/feels the pulse/ there's a funeral or something, I don't believe that they're actually dead. Like there was a book that I read last year (no spoilers!) where character #1 claimed that she killed character #2 and I was completely convinced that character #2 was going to pop up later in the book and not actually be dead. He/She didn't, so he/she is probably dead. However, I still think that there is a possibility that he/she is not dead. We shall see. Anyway, back to the point. I expected Imogen to pop up again, because it just wouldn't be a happy enough ending for Jaron if she was actually dead. Plus, this is a middle grade series that isn't very dark, so it would have felt very out of character for this book to suddenly get really dark and have one of the main characters die.  

So, that's all I have for my discussion about The Ascendance Trilogy! I hope that if you've made it this far in the post, you've actually read the trilogy (please don't read spoilers before you read the books!!!), so let me know down in the comments what you thought about the trilogy! Did you enjoy it as much as I did?

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How I Rate Books!

Edit [4-25-16]: This version of my rating system is outdated. My current rating system can be found HERE.

Hey, y'all! So, today I thought I would discuss how I rate books. Over the past week, I've been re-thinking the way that I rate books, and actually went through my ratings and re-defined what each rating means to me. I used to have a lot of in-between ratings, such as 9.25 or something like that, but I have restricted my ratings to whole numbers and .5 numbers. However, I will continue to use a 10 point scale, because I feel like it gives a more accurate portrayal of my feelings.

Since the majority of people operate on a 5 point scale, I'll give the 5 point scale equivalent beside my 10 point rating, as well as the rating I would give it on Goodreads. This Goodreads equivalent is especially important because there are only 5 options on Goodreads, but 20 options on my 10 point scale. So there will be several ratings on Goodreads that will fall under the same rating, thus making my 10 point specifications all the more important.

For most of the ratings, I have sections titled "key words" and "epitome books." The key words are just how they sound-- the key words that I think define books with this rating. This helps me figure out the subtle differences between books. Epitome books are also fairly self explanatory- these are the books that I feel are the epitome of how I should feel about a book receiving that rating. Both of these two sections are works in progress. As I think of words and books that better define these ratings, I will add them in. For many ratings (especially lower ratings), I don't have epitome books or key words, because I just simply haven't come across any that I feel epitomize that rating. The "epitome books" might not be extremely helpful for y'all to understand my ratings (since you probably have different opinions on these books), but they do really help me to choose a rating. This comparison is not really about the books themselves, but about my emotions and opinions on the books.

10/10 = 5/5

Key Words: whoa. perfect. mind blown. obsessed.

This book is not just really great, but also has that special umph that makes me want to hug it (this emotion is really key. This might be weird to some people, but if I really love a book, I tend to just sit there and hug it when I finish it, because it was just so beautiful). Not only do I fall in love with this book, but it could be considered an obsession and it definitely sticks with me. This book is a total stand-out.

Epitome Books: 

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Although there were many other books that could fit there, these seem like a more accurate representation of a 10 because I was so drawn in that I couldn't put the book down because I was so obsessed.

9.5/10 = 5/5

Key Words: amazing. almost perfect. 

This book was almost perfect, but missing a little extra umph that would push it to a 10. When I give a 9.5, I often wonder why my gut is telling me that it's not a full 10/10, and this is usually because it lacks that indefinable X factor that will push it over the edge (this is typically key). This book is really great and really impressive, but lacks the obsession, and probably doesn't stick with me quite as much.

Epitome Books: 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

These are the epitome for me because they all missed out on a full 10 star rating solely because of that X factor. There was some little umph that was missing, and that is definitely the key to this rating.

9/10 = 4.5/5

(4 on Goodreads)

Key Words: really great. love.

This book is a really wonderful book, but there were maybe one or two things that weren't perfect. There are some slight flaws, but I still feel like this book deserves an "A." One of the most important things that defines this is that I can still say that I honestly love the book.  Another key difference between a 9 and an 8.5 is that to get higher than an 8.5, something has to really impress me. Maybe a really great plot twist or really outstanding world building, but something has to make me say "OK, that was really great."

Epitome Books: 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

 Black Water by DJ MacHale

I feel like these epitomize a 9 because they're both in some of my favorite series and they're among my favorite books in their respective series. I love both of them, but there were one or two complaints I had about each one, keeping them from receiving higher ratings.

8.5/5 = 4/5

Key Words: great. 

This book probably won't become an all-time favorite, but I did really enjoy it. This book is pretty solid, but has some issues or aspects that keep me from considering it an "A" quality book. Often, this is missing the umph/x factor that would otherwise draw me in and make me give it a slightly higher rating. I can't quite say that I loved this book.

Epitome Books: 

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

All of these are great, and are in some of my favorite series. They aren't my absolute favorite books in the series, but they are really great. However, they all lack that little umph that would have gotten them higher ratings.

8/10 = 4/5

Key Words: really good.

I feel that this definitely deserves a "B"/ full 4 stars. 8 is typically the cut-off for books that I really enjoy. Anything lower than this leaves the "really good" realm and goes into "good," "like," and "nice."

Epitome Books: 

Carrie by Stephen King

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

All of these books are really good. Each one varies as to why they received this rating, but I feel like they all fit here. They are all worthy of receiving 4 stars, but not quite good enough to get a slightly higher rating.

7.5/10 = 3.5/5

(3 on Goodreads)

Key Words: above average. good.

This book is better than just "nice," but not quite good enough to get to a full four stars. There were enough issues/ drawbacks that I just couldn't call it "really" good.

Epitome Books: 

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

These books are better than just nice or average, but I don't think that they deserve a fill 4 star rating.

7/10 = 3.5/5

(3 on Goodreads)

Key Words: alright. nice. like. basic.

This book was nice and I liked it, but it just wasn't anything special. I feel like 7/10 is the universal "nice-but-not-impressive" rating for anything, whether it be a book, movie, CD, etc.

Epitome Books: 

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

The Giver by Lois Lowry

These books are all just nice. I like them, but I wasn't impressed. They're like a girl who's basic-- likable but they blend into their surroundings and aren't unique or special.

6.5/10 = 3/5

Key Words: N/A (yet)

With this book, I'm somewhere between thinking that I just wasn't impressed and thinking that it wasn't really my thing.

Epitome Books: 

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

With this book, I went back and forth trying to figure out if I just wasn't impressed and thinking it wasn't my thing, so it perfectly describes my feelings on books with this rating.

6/10 = 3/5

Key Words: N/A (yet)

OK, but definitely not my thing. I would definitely recommend it to people with a different taste than me. I had some definite issues with it, but I can definitely see why other people like it. (And yes, I recognize that I said definite way too many times)

Epitome Books: 

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Both of these books were disappointments to me, but they weren't bad, and I could definitely see why someone else would like them. The problems I had with them were things that other people might not find problematic.

5.5/10 = 2.5/5

(3 on Goodreads)

Key Words: N/A (yet)

Books with ratings 5.5-4.5 are mostly equivalent, but with 5.5, the positives just slightly out-weigh the negatives.

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

5/10 = 2.5/5

(3 on Goodreads)

Key Words: meh. ambivalent.

With this book, it's very likely that I have conflicting emotions. It wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't great. I'm not sure who I would recommend this book to, because I don't have strong emotions either way with this.

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

4.5/10 = 2.5/5

(3 on Goodreads)

Key Words: N/A (yet)

Like I said before, this book is mostly equivalent to 5 and 5.5, but the negatives just slightly out-weigh the positives. 

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

4/10 = 2/5

Key Words: problematic.

This book has more problems than good aspects. I might recommend it to someone, but definitely not to someone with the same tastes as me. If I were to recommend it to someone, I would tell them to approach it with caution if they really do want to read it, because I think that this book is technically very problematic.

Epitome Books: 

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

The Big Four by Agatha Christie

These books are here because I had technical problems with them that really bothered me. 

3.5/10 = 1.5/5

(2 on Goodreads)

Key Words: dislike.

I didn't like this book, and cannot recommend it to anyone in good conscience. This book had less problems than would be present in a 3 star book, but only marginally.

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

3/10 = 1.5/5

(2 on Goodreads)

Key Words:  really dislike.

I really disliked this book, and I would never recommend this book to anyone. However, there is either on redeemable quality or the quality across the board is better than that of a book receiving 1/5. However, this book definitely still cannot be defined as good. I had several problems that were impossible to overlook.

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

2.5/10 = 1/5

Key Words: N/A (yet) 

This book falls under "hate" for me. There may be one quality that wasn't completely terrible, but nothing more than that. Probably conflicted between wanting to give it 3 stars, but not thinking that it deserves 2/5.

Epitome Books: 

Looking For Alaska by John Green

This book is here because it is one of the few books that I can honestly say that I hate.

2/10 = 1/5

Key Words: hate. angry.

While most ratings below this are offensive and upsetting, this is defined more as an angry hatred. I had several fundamental problems and this book makes me angry and I had an extreme dislike for it.

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

1.5/10 = .5/5

(1 on Goodreads)

Key Words: upset. 

I would define this book as very, very bad. Maybe some aspects of the book weren't quite so terrible, but I still find it offensive. This makes me extremely upset. I can't imagine that anyone would like this book, and feel the same about all of the ratings below this as well.

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

1/10 = .5/5

(1 on Goodreads)

Key Words: terrible. awful. very bad.

This book is almost as bad as a book receiving a .5. However, it has perhaps one redeeming factor, whether that's "not terrible" writing/plot/character/etc. However, nothing about it could be described as "good."

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

.5/10 = .5/5

(1 on Goodreads)

Key Words: vomit. offensive. gross.

This is the worst book I've ever read. The only reason I'm actually giving this a rating is to increase the number of 1 star ratings on it. I wonder how this book even got published. Everything about this book was horrible and wrong, form the plot, to the characters, just absolutely everything. Extremely offended. No redeeming factors.

Epitome Books: N/A (yet)

So there you go, those are my rating guidelines. I'll be doing a video discussing this in the near future, so if you're subscribed to my YouTube Channel, be on the lookout for that soon! If you're not subscribed, the link is below! 

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