I’m really looking forward to getting more into this book. I love Lena and think that she has a brilliant mind. So far I like the little insight that it gives into her private and personal thoughts. And I think it’s really brave of her to write it down, publish it, and let the world critique her. She’s definitely someone that I admire as an aspiring writer and I can’t wait to post about it more!
Category: Thoughts
Perfect, Unbelievable, and Wicked by Sara Shepard
In my last post I believe I said that I was going to just read a bunch of the Pretty Little Liars books and then make a huge post about them all. This isn’t quite as far as I thought I would have gotten, but I found myself reading them like it was a chore and not something that I was actually enjoying.
I’ve always been the type that has to finish something once I’ve started it. You can’t just stop reading in the middle of a series, you have to have an ending. But I have also been known to put something down and never pick it back up just because it wasn’t interesting to me or because I was assigned to read it. I hate feeling like I’m being forced to read. These books were somewhat enjoyable and very simple to get through, but the characters aren’t very likeable and the story isn’t nearly as exciting as the show. Plus, knowing happened in the show and what changes they made for the better, just makes the books seem like a first draft of something that ended up really good.
I’ll admit it. I stopped reading altogether. I thought about this blog and the promise that I made to myself, but I just couldn’t pick up the next book and keep reading. I needed something to spark my interest again.
This past weekend I went to see the movie Gone Girl. It blew me away. I knew there was going to be a twist, but I didn’t expect it to be anything like it was. It may be one of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far. Being a reader, I knew that Gone Girl was originally a book. As soon as I got home from seeing it, I bought the book on my Kindle. It’s so good, I can’t put it down.
I love the feeling when you pick up something and start reading and fall in love with reading all over again. Gone Girl has completely cured me of the slump that the Pretty Little Liars series left me in. It made me want to read more and to actually have a somewhat impressive list of books that I was able to read in the last year.
Thanks to everyone who has followed me and liked my posts. I do hope that you enjoy reading what I have to say and I’d love to hear from you more. I’m not going to write a review for each of the Pretty Little Liars books, because there isn’t really much to say about them. I may pick them up again and finish the series, but probably not for awhile.
Beauty Product Review Coming Soon!
Hi Guys! I participated in the P&G Everyday Challenge for Influenster and this was my gift box! I’ll be doing reviews on all of these products once I’ve used them long enough and have taken some pictures. I’m looking forward to sharing these with you!
xoxo
Flawless by Sara Shepard
Okay, so I went ahead and read the next book. I actually finished it about two weeks ago and haven’t had time to post about it until now. It’s crazy because I thought graduating and not having to go to classes or do work would leave me more time to read/blog, but I’ve been super busy with the job search and everything else that life has thrown at me recently.
I’m pretty sure I’m just going to go ahead and read all of the Pretty Little Liars books that are out. They’re pretty easy to get through, so I’m hoping they don’t take up too much time. I just feel bad about starting a series of books and then never reading through all of them. Like I have to finish things before I can start something else.
This book, like the first was pretty similar to the television series. It kind of blows my mind how quickly the show went through these two books. I’m so used to one book being one whole season. I feel like if I read these books as they came out and had to wait for what happened next and then watched the show and saw how quickly everything flew by I would be kind of disappointed. Maybe it was a decision made by the editor to shorten the books and put out more of them, who knows…
The biggest thing I have to talk about from this book is ***SPOILER ALERT***
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Post-Grad Thoughts: What’s Next?
Hey guys,
It’s almost been a month since I graduated from Temple. I’m officially Temple Made, but I’m not exactly sure what’s next in my life. I mean, I know that I have to find a job, get a car, and start paying back my loans…but I’m not really sure about anything right now.
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Currently Reading: Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
I’m not completely sure I’m ready to take on reading this entire series. Apparently there are 16 of them, and the last one is coming out this December, who knew?
I’m a fan of the television series and bought the first book a while ago (after watching the first season, finding out there were books, and needing to know who A was). I do know that the show has strayed somewhat from the books, but I think it might be interesting to see if there are any similarities/differences and where the story went in the books.
I’m about six chapters in, and so far it’s exactly like the first season. I actually really like all the Philadelphia/Pennsylvania references. Not sure if I’ve said this before, but I’m from Pa and actually went to college in Philly, so it’s pretty interesting and makes me connect a little more to the books.
Really, what I want to know is if anyone has actually read through all of the books in the series. Are they worth it? Are they as good? I’d really like to know. ALSO: if anyone wants to talk PLL and theories with me, I’d love to do that!
An Update! *Finally*
I finally finished A Dance With Dragons! Whew, I can’t believe it took me that long…AND that it has taken me so long for a new post.
I could say sorry to my followers (though I’m not really sure how many of you actually pay attention to my posts and reviews *if you do I truly appreciate it!*), but really I need to apologize to myself. I love to read and the past few months I let the stress of school and work get in the way of it.
The fact that A Dance With Dragons was the book that I was “Currently Reading” when I started this blog is embarrassing. I flew through the other books, but to be fair, I was on a break and had absolutely nothing to do. I don’t want to make excuses for myself, but this last semester of college was really stressful. Even though I slacked off in areas of my life that I enjoyed, I’m proud that I graduated with a 3.65 GPA in my final semester as a college undergraduate.
And even though I wasn’t able to get through this book as quickly as I thought I would, I’m also proud to say that I didn’t stop reading it altogether. Many nights when I was so stressed to the point of wanting to cry, I made myself turn off the computer and read at least one chapter of ADWD. It was an escape for me and allowed me to have 30 minutes where I was completely immersed in something other than school.
ANYWAY…I’m going to start talking about what I thought of the book, so if you haven’t read it STOP READING NOW. Seriously, SPOILER ALERT!!!
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A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin
Wow…just, wow. This book was incredible and so many things happened that I can’t even believe. I absolutely loved it and once again GRRM makes me feel like he’s some sort of crazy, evil, creative genius. As someone who loves writing and hopes to be a writer, he just blows my mind. Seriously, how can someone come up with this many plot lines? And they all are completely necessary and essential to wherever this story is going to end.
SERIOUSLY, I’ve never read a chapter from any of the books in the ASOIAF series and thought “GRRM could have done without this, it was a pretty pointless chapter.” These books are so detailed and all of the story lines are so well thought out, that even though I think I know where things are going, I’m shocked and I’m not mad about any of it.
Something that really made me think about all of this was when *SPOILER* Jon was stabbed after announcing to the brothers that he was going to return to Winterfell. After I got over my initial shock (Jon got stabbed! Is he dead?! This can’t happen!), I went online to see how others had reacted. I stumbled upon a site with the theory that Jon is Azor Ahai reborn (salty tears and smoking wounds, plus Melisandre’s visions). I had never even thought about that, but that wasn’t even the craziest thing about it. The site listed all of the theories surrounding Azor Ahai, and I had only thought there were two of them (Stannis and Daenerys). To have so many characters listed under the theories, there had to be some serious planning on GRRM’s part.
Everything has been planned out with so much detail, it’s no wonder it takes him so long to write these books. Reading the ASOIAF series and seeing the theories have made me fall in love with reading and writing again. I can’t wait for The Winds of Winter, and I look forward to seeing what GRRM does with the crazy world he created.
More to Come
Man, first I want to apologize to myself for not keeping up with this like I planned. I didn’t anticipate how busy this semester would be for me.
I am keeping up with reading, more for school than for myself, but I haven’t found the time to sit down and write about the readings the past week or so.
I’m currently enrolled in an 18 credit semester, which is basically as many credits as they’ll let you take in one semester. I needed to do this so that I could graduate on time this May. Most of my classes are fine and I can handle their course load, however I’m also enrolled in my capstone journalism class this semester. It’s been a lot to handle and I’ve been so busy and behind on so many things.
I’m writing this mostly for myself, to remind myself that this is something that I need to take the time to do. I promise that within the next week I will be up to date on everything and have new posts about what I’ve been reading.
This is my resolution, so I need to take the time and get it done.
In other news, the first story that I wrote for my capstone, Philadelphia Neighborhoods, was actually on the front page of their website the other day. That was a pretty cool moment for me.
My story was the one about Casinos. It’s a very difficult beat to cover, but also very rewarding when something gets accomplished.
Inspiration
Very recently I’ve become more interested in James Franco, his work, and his life. Something that I was surprised to find out was that he is almost constantly enrolled in college classes and is a pretty big bibliophile. I love that someone who is as rich and famous as James Franco chooses to spend his time furthering his education and reading books. It’s very impressive actually and totally changed the way that I viewed him as a person. This year I plan on reading the books that he has written and I look forward to seeing what his writing is like.
If anyone has read anything he’s written I’d love to know what you think.
UPDATE:
Still working on getting through A Dance With Dragons. It’s going pretty well.
****SPOILER ALERT****
I can’t believe Aegon is alive! Not that I’m that surprised, it makes for a pretty good storyline. I’m looking forward to seeing where GRRM takes this, especially how it will play out with Daenerys.
Kayla Cropper 