Thursday, April 28, 2016

Ask the FanGirl

In which I answer all the questions below (I found this #AskTheFanGirl on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to do)











1. First Person I ever obsessed over? Hmm, well if we're going with fictional characters, I'd have to say Darien/Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon {I was just a bit in love with that show when I was younger, and even now when I'm all growed up, there's still something about my beloved Tuxedo Mask that makes me go SWOON} But if we're going with real people, I'd say it was Nick Carter {Yes, I was a BSB girl. And I still am, thankyouverymuch}

    
Image result for tuxedo mask
















2. Current Obsession? Obsession? As in singular? I have way too many for that. Well, there's Once Upon A Time {even though it's starting to get a bit weird}

3. Favorite Band? Hmm, I like 5 Seconds of Summer... I mean, I'm not obsessed with them {Don't hate me for that please} but they're pretty cool.

4. Favorite Singer? I looove Dalton Rapattoni. And Keith Urban... And Adam Lambert.







5. Favorite YouTuber? Oh, DanIsNotOnFire hands down, without a doubt, most definitely, and any other affirmation I can give you. Because one second he's like:

30) danisnotonfire quotes | Tumblr 

but then the next it's:

 

6. First concert? Ah yes, that was a Backstreet Boys concert way back forever ago.

7. Favorite Movie? I don't really have just one movie that I would call my favorite. I like lots of them, especially if they're Hallmark Movies

8. Favorite Actor/Actress? Colin O'Donoghue is my favorite actor and Emma Watson is my favorite actress

9. First celebrity crush? Yeah, that's going to be Nick Carter again

10. Ever got made fun of for what I like? Nope.

11.Favorite book? HA. HA HA AHAHA, there's no way I can pick just one. But I'll try, let me think *INSERT THINKING MUSIC HERE* Okay, well, with much deliberation, the one book out of all of my favorites that I am going to share with you is:

How (Not) to Fall in Love 
 It's fantastic, you should definitely read it

12. Favorite TV Show? I would usually say Once Upon A Time, but I'm going to shake things up a bit this time and say Bringing Up Bates

13. Favorite Fictional Character..., Hmmm. HMMMMM.... HmMMmMmMMMmmmMMmmm... Well, I am going to have to say it's a tie between Aaron Warner from the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi AND Captain Hook from Once Upon A Time. Because they are BAE.

14. Something I love about the fandom that I'm in? Well, I love that I'm able to fangirl and get completely dorky when I talk to people who like the same things that I do, and they totally get it. They fangirl (or fanboy) with me. No judgements.

15. Something I hate about the fandom that I am in? Well, this is just about fandoms in general I guess. I hate that people get so defensive and all "My fandom is better than yours and if you disagree you are a terrible person" All fandoms are spectacular. Can't we all just get along?

16. Would I ever take a bullet for the people I fangirl over? I have no clue. That's more like one of those split second decisions.

17. Do I ever hide the fact that I like somone/something out of fear of getting teased? Pshhh, no. I don't care what people think about what I like.

18. Have I ever met any of my idols? Sadly, no.

19. Do I have any merch of the people I fangirl over? Oh yes.

20. Favorite fangirl moment? All of them

Monday, April 18, 2016

Review: When We Collided by Emery Lord


When We Collided
Emery Lord
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Date Read: April 2016
Publication Date: April 5th 2016
Hardcover, 352 pages



Summary From Goodreads:

We are seventeen and shattered and still dancing. We have messy, throbbing hearts, and we are stronger than anyone could ever know…

Jonah never thought a girl like Vivi would come along.

Vivi didn’t know Jonah would light up her world.

Neither of them expected a summer like this…a summer that would rewrite their futures.

In an unflinching story about new love, old wounds, and forces beyond our control, two teens find that when you collide with the right person at just the right time, it will change you forever.


My Review:

I liked this book, but I didn't love it, and that was kind of heartbreaking for me because I absolutely adored Lord's previous books. It wasn't horrible though, so ugh, I don't know, I am just really conflicted about my feeling for this book right now.

What I liked:

Little Leah, and big, bubbly personality. She was just super adorable and hilarious

THE GORGEOUS cover! It's soooo pretty. completely different from the covers of the last 2 books which could be aggravating  if you collect books and now have a mismatched set... Still, it's super pretty.

The big-ish family. I always thought it would be fun to have a lot of brothers and sisters because there would always be someone to hang out with. I loved how they all pulled together when things got bad.

I liked Vivi's GINORMOUS personality as well. She was always so willing to put herself out there and look silly. And she talked. A lot. Which is cool, because I'm a pretty quiet person, I'd rather listen than talk. So being friends with someone like Vivi would be okay with me.

I liked Jonah. He was just so sweet, and I always just wanted to hug him and say, hey, you know, everything will be fine.


What I didn't like

The insta-forced love thing. Normally I can deal with the insta-love. But this time it was a little much. It felt to me like Vivi was the one pushing the relationship. She was kind of controlling and demanding and even childish at times when she was with Jonah.

The ending was kind of a bummer for me. I love my HEAs. Or at least an ending that gives the illusion that there will be a Happily Ever After at some point, but this one didn't. I understand that life doesn't always give you a happy ending, but this is a book! It doesn't have to follow the rules of reality!


I don't know much about bipolar disorder, so I can't make any comments on how believable that was.

Overall, this book was, as I said above, Okay. But it wasn't anything spectacularly fantastic.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Review: The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

The Year We Fell Apart

The Year We Fell Apart
By Emily Martin
My Rating: 3 Stars
Date Read: April 2016
Publication Date: January 26th 2016
Hardcover, 320 pages


Summary From Goodreads:

Few things come as naturally to Harper as epic mistakes. In the past year she was kicked off the swim team, earned a reputation as Carson High’s easiest hook-up, and officially became the black sheep of her family. But her worst mistake was destroying her relationship with her best friend, Declan.

Now, after two semesters of silence, Declan is home from boarding school for the summer. Everything about him is different—he’s taller, stronger…more handsome. Harper has changed, too, especially in the wake of her mom’s cancer diagnosis.

While Declan wants nothing to do with Harper, he’s still Declan, her Declan, and the only person she wants to talk to about what’s really going on. But he’s also the one person she’s lost the right to seek comfort from.

As their mutual friends and shared histories draw them together again, Harper and Declan must decide which parts of their past are still salvageable, and which parts they’ll have to let go of once and for all.
 

My Review:

Oh boy. This book was full of drama. It was a good book, and it had the opportunity to be a great book, but it kind of fell short of that for me at least. I think it was because there was so much drama in it. So first I am going to start with what I didn't like.

Harper kind of frustrated me. She handled things so poorly. I mean, yes, we all make mistakes don't get me wrong. But Harper made the same mistakes over and over and over again. And it was over pretty dumb things too. Like when she got upset that Declan couldn't make it to a party and blew things way out of proportion  going oh boo hoo hoo poor me, he must not like me! Then she went and got completely wasted and started making out with someone else.

I loved Declan. He was so patient and forgiving where Harper was concerned. He had things of his own going on, but he seemed to handle them way better than Harper did.

Cory was also really awesome. He was always there to come to Harper's rescue. No matter when she called, he would go and get her. Harper was just really lucky in the friend area in general. They put up with a lot of crap from her and they were always willing to defend her.

One thing that was kind of left up in the air was how things with Harper's mom went. Did she die? Did she survive? Did they actually say what happened to her and I just read over it? I guess we get to make our own assumptions as far as that goes, and that's okay too I guess.

That's just my opinion though. I'm interested to see what you thought if you've read it! Let me know down in the comments!


Thursday, April 7, 2016

Review: Catching Lucas Riley by Lauren Winder Farnsworth

Catching Lucas Riley

By Lauren Winder Farnsworth 

My Rating: 4 Stars  
Date Read: March 2016

Publication Date:
March 8th 2016 
Paperback, 192 pages


Summary From Goodreads:

  
Alex Foamer is in love . . . with the untouchable singles ward heartthrob who has no idea she exists. Enter Sealey Witchburn, the manipulative, sarcastic ward executive secretary, whose scheming is Alex's only chance to catch her crush’s attention. But when Alex actually wins the bid for her dream date, she gets more than she bargained for in this surprising LDS romance based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid

My Review: 

This book was a quick, fun, and hilarious read, though saying that it is based on The Little Mermaid is kind of stretching it. That was part of the reason that I wanted to read it in the first place {because, you know, Prince Eric is my fave} and as I was reading it, it just wasn't clicking for me... I mean, okay Sealey and Ursula, I got that... And Alex has red hair like Ariel... But I think it would have been better to leave the reference to The Little Mermaid out of the summary... But that's just my opinion.

Anyways, moving on... I really didn't like Sealey... I thought he was a major jerk. And I just wasn't feeling a connection between him and Alex. I kept waiting on him to grow on me as the book went on, but it never happened. I did like Alex's relationship with her roommates though. They were all so different, but their personalities just meshed together so well.

I've never obsessed over a guy {well I have, but they're either fictional or famous, so that doesn't count} but I felt like I could relate to Alex and her insecurities.} I'm a member of the LDS Church and I'm also roughly around the same age as Alex. So I can kind of relate to her on that.

Even though this one is categorized as Adult Christian Fiction/New Adult book, teens could read this book without any fear of it being super raunchy. Which is always exciting for me, because it's hard to find New Adult books that aren't full of sex, drugs, and alcohol.

There are some terms and phrases that readers may not be familiar with unless they are a member of the Mormon Church {which I am}, or they know someone who is a member. But it's nothing that is so off putting that it makes you want to stop reading the book. It's also not overly preachy either, which is always nice.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was:

"It wasn't that she didn't appreciate testimony meeting for what its purpose was supposed to be, but the problem was that too many testimonies turned into storytelling sessions or academy award speeches."

Because, let's face it... it's something that everyone has thought, but just never had the guts to say out loud.