Always Me

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to my seventh Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately! If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules:  Every Monday share one or two of songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up at the bottom of this post by sharing your post's url.  Finally, have fun sharing and discovering new to you music! This week I'm sharing two songs by a fantastic bluegrass band called Chris Jones & The Night Drivers  and since it's almost December I'll be including a bonus Christmas song! "Don't Blink" (2013) and "Bow Ties ...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Nimona, a reckless young shapeshifter, signs on as the sidekick of Lord Ballister Blackheart, a villain with a vendetta against Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics. Nimona and Blackheart are going to wreak major havoc and show the world that Goldenloin and the Institution aren't the heroes everyone thinks. As Blackheart sees that he has less control over Nimona than he thought and as small acts of villainy turn outright vicious, he realizes that Nimona's past is as murky as the extent of her abilities. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson is so much fun and has the perfect sense of humor! I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and the world they inhabit. They're all so charming and make you want to like them regardless of what they've done, especially Nimona. She's so unique and utterly herself and not necessarily what you would expect of her. When it comes to Blackheart, while he has standards he's...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Adelina Amouteru is bent on revenge after suffering at the hands of her family and friends. Now as the feared White Wolf, she and her sister leave Kenettra to find other Young Elites to build her own loyal army. Her goal is to wipe out the Kenettran Inquisition Axis. Unfortunately for Adelina, whose powers are fed by fear and hate, her powers are spiraling out of control. She doesn't trust her new Elite allies, the leader of the Inquisition wants her dead at any cost, and her old friends, Raffaele and the Daggers, want to end her quest for vengeance. Adelina's no hero, but she struggles to hold on what good she has left although her continued existence depends on the darkness. Adelina is one of Marie Lu's most fascinating characters and one of the darkest YA characters I've read in awhile. She's not the hero, not by a long shot, and she's not all that likable either. For me, this is usually a deal breaker, but Adelina is a great exception. I...

Starting Sparks in a monthly writing prompt which is hosted by Emily @ Ink, Inc  and Ashley G. @ [insert title here] .  Basically, at the beginning of each month we're given a writing prompt that we can do whatever we want with it - create a short story, a scene, a poem, etc., that somehow ties in with the prompt.  Spark your imagination, if you will.  We then have until the end of that month to link up with the hosting blogs. Here is this month's prompt: I've been trying to think of something interesting to go with this prompt since the beginning of the month, but then today I saw something that really reminded me of this topic.  The following is my take on the scene: I don't know if any of you go Black Friday shopping.  I'm not one to go out on Thanksgiving night or line up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning, but sometimes I'll head out in the afternoon to see if I can get any deals, especially when it comes to local stores.  Of cour...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Becca has had to deal with a lot of crap since her boyfriend started spreading malicious rumors about her because now she's getting attention from all the wrong kind. Then, she helps out Chris Merrick in the school parking lot when he's in a very tight spot. Turns out he's very different from the average guy - he can control and manipulate water. Just like his brothers can fire, earth, and wind. Each has the ability to control and element, which means they are quite powerful and dangerous with enemies just around the corner. Since Becca now knows the truth about her classmates that means she's in danger, too. She thinks she can trust Hunter, the new kid at school, but when he keeps showing up at the most inopportune moments and goes up against Chris she's not so sure. She does know one thing - there's a storm coming. This series has been recommended to me so many times, so when it was available for free on Kindle I jumped at the chance and pick...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ A small Wisconsin town is shocked when a high school freshman girl's body is found in the lake. Like everyone else, Daniel, a fellow student, thought her death was accidental, but at her funeral he sees a horrifying vision of her that leads him to believe that it wasn't. He's convinced her appearance wasn't just a hallucination and he quietly begins to look into her death, even though he's having an increasingly difficult time knowing what's real and what isn't in his new blurred reality. One of my coworkers recommended this novel by Steven James. She had never read the author and was pleasantly surprised when she stumbled upon Blur . She said it was a mystery that would be right up my alley. And, she was right! I really enjoyed this first novel of a trilogy. This clever mystery novel is so filled with suspense that it kept me turning these pages non-stop. The best part is that the characters are so well-developed. Daniel and most of the su...

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting my current read, Library of Souls  ( Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children  #3) by Ransom Riggs .  I'm only on page 35 right now, but I'm so excited after having devoured the first two installments!  I can't wait to see how it all ends!  It takes off with a bang almost immediately where Hollow City ...

I hope everyone who celebrates it will have a Happy Thanksgiving!  May your day be filled with family, friends, and good food.

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish .  This week's theme is a Thanksgiving freebie, so today I'm sharing the families I'd love to celebrate Thanksgiving with.  You'll have to suspend disbelief because some of these families wouldn't celebrate the holiday.  Here we go, in no particular order: The Weasley Family from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling The Finch Family from To Kill a Mockingbird  by Harper Lee The Bucket Family from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl The Baggins Family from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings  by J.R.R. Tolkien The Bluth Family from Arrested Development The March Family from Little Women  by Louisa May Alcott The Quimby Family from   the Ramona Quimby  books by Beverly Cleary The Baudelaire Family from A Series of Unfortunate Events  by Lemony Snicket Peter Pan and the Lost ...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to my sixth Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately! If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules:  Every Monday share one or two of songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up at the bottom of this post by sharing your post's url.  Finally, have fun sharing and discovering new to you music! This week I'm doing something a bit different again by spotlighting two (musically and lyrically) different covers of the same song called Corrina, Corrina (sometimes Corrine, Corrina).   The song was first recorded in 1928 and it's even bee...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Grace has an absolutely brilliant mind and an eye for detail. She knows terrible family secrets and has been shipped off to a brutal Boston insane asylum until the bulge in her belly is gone in nine months time. The only way she can deal with her situation is to shut down her mind and lock away her voice, but when it returns in a fit of violence she is relegated to the cellar where all of the worst patients are held. While down there she is discovered by a visiting doctor who also dabbles in the new techniques of criminal psychology, and he realizes she could potentially make a good assistant in the field. This doctor and a fellow patient help her escape with him to his ethical Ohio asylum, a place where she feels hope for the first time in a while and the hint of a life she could have had. While still considered "mad", she uses her position to be the doctor's eyes and ears while assisting him at crime scenes. They soon find themselves on the trail of a se...

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting my next read, To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han .  Contemporary YA isn't really my genre of choice, but I've heard that this is one to pick up.  Maybe it'll surprise me and I'll love it like I did Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  Based on the snippets I picked out, I am liking the ton...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Wayward Pines has a new sheriff, Ethan Burke. Ethan is one of the few that knows the truth about the town and the rest of the world. He has been beyond the fence and saw the reality behind what appears to be a modern Eden. For the most part, the townspeople have no idea. They don't know what's behind the fence, why they're in the town, why every action is dictated to them, why they shouldn't talk about the past. Some of them think it's a strange experiment. Some think they're all already dead. However, everyone wants to escape, and those that are brave enough to try are in for a horrific surprise. Wayward , the second installment of the Wayward Pines series, does not suffer from middle book syndrome in the least. It starts off with a bang and doesn't slow down from there. If you thought you knew what was going on from the first book, prepare yourself for lots of twists and turns that may turn what you think you know on its head. While I...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ The Marvels features what seems to be two completely unrelated stories, one told fully in pictures the other told in text. The first illustrated one begins in 1766 and tells the story of Billy Marvel, a young shipwreck survivor, who begins a family acting dynasty in London that spans five generations. The second in prose opens in 1990 and tells the story of Joseph, a boy who has runaway to an uncle's home in London, who finds himself piecing together multiple mysteries revolving around the house and his family. As soon as this arrived at the library, I knew I had to read it simply based on how much I enjoyed The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck . While I particularly enjoyed Selznicks's previous works, I didn't find myself quite as enamored with his latest outing. Like Wonderstruck , The Marvels is about what seems to be two complete stories that end up coming together in the end to make one cohesive story. Personally, I felt much more of a c...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish .  This week's topic is Quotes I've Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So.  Here we go, in no particular order: Jackaby leaned in and adopted the sort of hushed, secretive tones that one nearby cannot help but overhear. "Miss Rook, on a scale of one to pomegranate, how dangerous would you say this situation has become?" - Beastly Bones by William Ritter Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing things that are great for them , having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway. - The Rest of Us Just Live Here  by Patrick Ness Sometimes pain can bring about clarity and remind us we're still breathing. ...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to my fifth Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately! If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules:  Every Monday share one or two of songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up at the bottom of this post by sharing your post's url.  Finally, have fun sharing and discovering new to you music! I'm doing something a little different this week.  I'm spotlighting The Wombats - the song that first got me into their music and their newest. "Let's Dance to Joy Division" by The Wombats - This is first song I heard by thi...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ What if you aren't the Chosen One in a fantasy or adventure story? If you're like Mikey and his friends, you just want to find a date to prom and attend graduation before the indie kids blow up the school, putting a stop to whatever monsters are out there. Again. Sometimes, there are more important things out there than this week's apocalypse. Sometimes you have to be able to find the extraordinary in your ordinary day-to-day life. Even if your best friend is worshiped by cats. As soon as I heard about The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness I knew I had to pick it up. One, because Patrick Ness is one of the best author's out there, and, two, because it's set in a fantasy world where most of the fantastic elements take a back seat. The concept behind this novel is so cool and it hooked me right away. As it turns out, the execution of this concept is as good, or better than I expected. The group of four friends at the heart of the story, ...

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting my next read, Sharps  by K.J. Parker .  I'm not familiar with this author, but I'm really looking forward to it because it sounds like it will an awesome fantasy novel featuring lots fencing!  I need more fencing in my life.   Book Beginning: Ever since she was a little girl, she'd had a rec...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Abigail and her eccentric employer, a detective of the supernatural, Jackaby are back on the case! First, vicious shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens and the next day their owner is found murdered with a single mysterious puncture wound. Second, in Gad's Valley, now home of Charlie Cane, dinosaur bones from a recent dig go missing and, third, a beast begins attacking animals and people leaving their mangled bodies behind. Charlie calls on Abigail and Rook for help and before they know it, they're on the hunt for a murderer, a thief, and a monster. Beastly Bones by William Ritter, the sequel to Jackaby , is just as much fun as it's predecessor. It drew me right back into their world and I couldn't put it down. In this newest installment, we get to spend time with familiar favorites as well as meet some great new additions. Hank Hudson and Nellie Fuller are stand outs and I loved every second we had of them. Just as before I ...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ One night Mikael Blomkvist gets a call from a source regarding important info to the US. The source also claims to have been in contact with a female hacker - one that Blomkvist knows well. In need of a story for his magazine, he turns to Salander for help, who like usual has her own agenda. The implications of the information are staggering and the secret they both end up chasing leads them into a web of spies, cybercriminals, and world governments. And, it looks like someone is willing to kill to protect this secret. In the past, I greatly enjoyed The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larrson. Even the Swedish movie adaptations were fantastic. When I first heard about this new installment being continued by a new author, I was most definitely intrigued regardless of the situation behind it's publication. Salander and Blomkvist rank as some of my favorite characters, so I couldn't wait to see what another author would make of them. As it turns out, The Girl ...

Happy Tuesday!  This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish , is Book To Movie Adaptations I'm Looking Forward To.  Here we go, in order of release date: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 2 - November 20, 2015 Frankenstein - November 25, 2015 Macbeth  - December 4, 2015 The 5th Wave - January 15, 2015 The Divergent Series: Allegiant  - March 18, 2016 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies  - February 5, 2016 Alice Through the Looking Glass - May 27, 2016 The BFG  - July 1, 2016. No images or trailers seem to have been released yet, but the cast includes Mark Rylance, Rebecca Hall, and Bill Hader directed by Steven Spielberg with music by John Williams. It definitely sounds promising! Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  - November 18, 2016. Have you seen the the pictures and information released about it yet?! And, how do you like that title design ? Miss Per...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to my fourth Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately! If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules:  Every Monday share one or two of songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up at the bottom of this post by sharing your post's url.  Finally, have fun sharing and discovering new to you music! "Cake by the Ocean" by DNCE - I've just started hearing this group's debut single and I must say it's a lot of fun.  And, the title is Cake by the Ocean - who doesn't like that?  Turns out that this group is actually fron...

I saw the Your Future Book Tag over at Books For Thought  and I thought it looked pretty cool, so I've tagged myself to complete it.   The Tag: You need to choose five books right way.  These books will be used to answer the questions throughout the tag.  The five books I have chosen are the books I'm planning to read after I've worked my way through my library books: 1. Sharps by K.J. Parker 2. The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh 3. To All the Boys I've Loved Before  by Jenny Han 4. Rook by Sharon Cameron 5. Gideon by Alex Gordon The Questions: 1. Open book 1 to a random page. Look at the first word on the page. If it’s less than 5 letters, you will go to college. If it’s more than 5 letters, you won’t go to college (Sharps). Page 294 - first word is three letters.  I went to college.  Good for me! 2. Open book 1 to a random page. The first name you see. Think of that persons job, that will be your job. Note: I...