Always Me

Back in October, I was tagged by Giovanna @ Book Coma to complete the The Stationery Book Tag - and I'm just now getting to it, sorry!  Anyway, I thought I would share this today since Top Ten Tuesday is on hiatus until March 7th. Rules:  1. Thank the creator of the tag, River-Moose-Reads.  Thanks very much! 2. Answer the questions. 3. Add pictures (if you want to). 4. Tag (about) 5 people. The Tag: Pencils - Favorite Children's Or Middle Grade Book Hope is a Ferris Wheel  by Robin Herrera - I just happened to stumble upon an ARC of this 2014 release, and it's an absolutely wonderful middle-grade novel that doesn't get nearly enough attention.  It's definitely a must read. Pens - A Basic Staple For Any Reader Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - A no-brainer! Notebooks - Books That You Own Multiple Copies Of You know, I don't think I have any duplicate copies of anything... Markers - Books With Beautiful Covers

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to 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 by sharing your post's url. This week I thought I'd share the two lead singles from Ed Sheeran's upcoming album called ÷ ( Divide ) which will be released March 3rd.  I've been hearing "Shape of You" quite a bit on the radio lately and while I really like it, I have to say I prefer the sound of "Castle on the Hill".  Did you see Ed Sheera

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Henrietta Howel can catch fire, but she's had to keep that ability secret at the girls school where she works. That is until she is forced to reveal her power to save a friend's life. Instead of being executed as a witch, she's actually invited to train to become a royal sorcerer. The royal sorcerers claim that she is prophesied to defeat the Ancients, the demons terrorizing the world over. She and her fellow sorcerer trainees will train to defeat the demons and test each others powers. However, Henrietta isn't really the chosen one and she finds herself in the middle of a dangerous game with sorcerers that have plenty to hide. A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess was one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2016, and I'm glad I finally had the opportunity to listen to it on audiobook. The narration as performed by Fiona Hardingham is excellent - she really helps bring Henrietta's story to life. The story is engrossing. I loved lea

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 one of my current reads, Shadow and Bone  ( The Grisha  #1) by Leigh Bardugo.  I've had this on my shelf for ages and I'm finally taking the plunge into this series.  It sounds amazing and I've heard so many wonderful things about this author that I can't put it off any longer.  I'm really looki

❋  ❋  ❋ A new plague is literally spreading like wildfire across the United States. It's called Draco Incendia Trychophyton, aka Dragonscale, and it's a highly contagious spore that marks its suffers with black and gold markings along their body and eventually causes them to spontaneously combust. Millions suffer and die from the plague and the fires it's caused. No one is safe from this new plague and there is no antidote. Harper, a nurse, and her husband, Jakob, made a pact that if they were ever infected they would kill themselves before things got too bad. However, once Harper realizes she's pregnant she decides she wants to live, at least until the baby is born. She figures the baby will be fine until then, at least if Harper lives that long. Jakob is sure that she's infected him too and goes crazy, and leaves her in the growing chaos of the newly formed Cremation Squads, posses armed to take out those with Dragonscale. That's when she meets The Firema

This March I plan on taking part in the third and final month of the Winter 2017 Comment Challenge, hosted by  Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense  and  Lonna @ FLYLēF .  This challenge is a wonderful way to get know other bloggers in the community.  Over the Summer 2016 Comment Challenge I got to know  Ellen and Sierra @ Quest Reviews ,  Mari @ Story and Somnomancy , and  Anne @ Head Full of Books .  So far during the Winter Comment Challenge, I've had the opportunity to get to know  Lia @ Lost In A Story  this January and Bill @ Billbrarian  in February.  I'm pleased to be taking part again this March!   I plan on being just as ambitious by commenting 10+ times with my to be assigned partner - I can't wait to get to know you!  You can also tweet along on Twitter with the hashtag  #Winter2017CC .  Don't forget, there is a challenge wide giveaway for participants!

. Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish !  This week's topic is Books I Loved Less/More Than I Thought I Would (recently or all time) - it's the week after Valentine's Day and I feel like covering books books I loved less than I thought I would.  Each title is linked to my review, if you'd like to see why I didn't like these so much.  Here we go in alphabetical order: Black City by Elizabeth Richards Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare Mrs. Hudson's Diaries: A View From the Landing at 221b by Barry and Bob Cryer  Passenger by Alexandra Bracken The Reader by Traci Chee Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake Have you tried any of these books?  Did you like them more than I did?  What books

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to 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 by sharing your post's url. This week I'm spotlighting two songs featured in The LEGO Batman Movie which I saw last Saturday.  The movie was a lot of fun, if you haven't seen it yet, and it has a pretty great soundtrack. "Who's The (Bat)Man" by Patrick Stump  - This is Batman's theme song which is in the beginning of the movie - and I'd s

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  It's been four months since Lila came into Kell's life, since Rhy was wounded, since the Dane twins and White London fell, and since a dying Holland and the stone were cast through the rift into Black London. Now, Kell is restless after giving up smuggling items between Londons and he can't help but think of Lila, and he's plagued by ominous dreams. Meanwhile, as Red London is getting ready for the Element Games, an international magical competition meant to strengthen the alliance between neighboring countries, another London is returning to life and for magical balance to be achieved one London will have to fall before another can truly flourish. A Gathering of Shadows is the perfect sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic , one of my favorite reads of 2015. Honestly, I'm not sure why I waited so long to dive back into one of my favorite worlds. Okay, probably nerves - how would my favorite characters fare, would it live up to the hype, would it b

I've read a lot about Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1872 (as well as many other firsts), over the years.  She came from poor, rural Ohio roots and was far, far ahead of her time.  It's an understatement to say that she was a larger-than-life figure.  Unfortunately due to history she has been mostly forgotten, but thanks to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and nomination she is starting to be remembered (and she's putting Homer, Ohio, her hometown, back on the map).  The two books I'm reviewing below,  Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage  (nonfiction) and Outrageous: The Victoria Woodhull Saga, Volume One: Rise to Riches (fiction) are two interesting entry points to her fascinating life and work. ❋  ❋  ❋  This nonfiction book discusses the different philosophies of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement, and

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 a current read, Outrageous: The Victoria Woodhull Saga, Volume 1: Rise to Riches  by Neal Katz which I'm about half way through at the moment.  This novel is a fictionalized account of Victoria Woodhull's life from her own perspective, plus it has a touch of magical realism.  Woodhull (1838-1927), if you&#

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish !  In honor of Valentine's Day, this week's topic is All About Romance Tropes/Types -- top ten favorite hate-to-love romances (from books or movies or tv), top ten favorite (or least favorite) instalove romances, favorite slow-burn romances, favorite starcrossed lovers, etc. etc. Can go so many ways with this one).  I'm doing my list on my favorite tv couples.  Here we go, in alphabetical order by name of the tv show: Willow and Tara - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Amy and Rory - Doctor Who Matthew and Mary - Downton Abbey Sawyer and Juliet - Lost Mitchell and Cameron - Modern Family Jim and Pam - The Office Hook and Emma - Once Upon a Time Claire and Jamie - Outlander Homer and Marge - The Simpsons Glenn and Maggie - The Walking Dead Do you like any of these couples?  What tv couple is your favorite?  Thanks as always for