Sunday Post [2]: Work, Work, and Sleep

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @
Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~
It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. This is your news post, so personalize it! Include as much as you want or as little. Be creative, it can be a vlog or just a showcase of your goodies. Link up once a week or once a month, you decide. Book haul can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books..share them!

This week:

I started work on Tuesday and worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I didn't know someone so young could be so sore. Friday I had off and I went to the Detroit Tigers game. They lost and also I only stayed for three innings and then there was a downpour and the game was in delay. Saturday I worked again. Today I have off so hopefully I'll be getting tons of reading done. I may or may not leave the bed at all. When I wasn't working, I was probably sleeping or wishing I was sleeping. Work is going really well though and I'm enjoying it so far. 

This week on my blog:

Monday: September TBR

Tuesday: August Recap

Wednesday: Wishlist Wednesday

Thursday: Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Friday: Free Time Fridays

Saturday: Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

What you'll see this coming week:

Monday: What I Want To See From More Women Characters

Tuesday: Why I Am Thankful for John Green Even If I Don't Like His Books

Wednesday: Review: We Were Liars

Thursday: Are Endings of Books More Important Than The Rest?

Friday: Review: Eleanor & Park

Saturday: TreesofReverie Read-a-thon sign-up

Sunday: The Sunday Post

Books read this week:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (finished)

Eleven On Top by Janet Evanovich (finished)

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

Goals for this week:

-Get a little bit more sleep than I did this week

-Find more reading time

-Read more than 300 pages

Pages read: 433

Goal: 6,000

Stephanie Plum books read: 1
Goal: 8

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Book: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #2
Started: August 5, 2014
Finished: August 7, 2014
Published: July 9, 2013
Publisher: Speak

Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell Twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. [Via Goodreads]

Dear Stephanie Perkins, 

Thank you for including Anna and Etienne in this story without drowning out Lola's story. Thank you for adding them to the story but also making us know at all times that this is Lola's stories and not an extension of Anna's. You wrote San Francisco as wonderfully as you wrote Paris and sure, there isn't a beautiful Eiffel Tower or old creepy cemetery, but you didn't need that to make this story beautiful. Thank you for making Lola different than Anna. Lola is her own person and I'm sure Isla is too. Lola and Anna are two completely different people. I was worried that I would feel like I was reading the same book two times in a row, but I knew I wasn't. I could tell the obvious differences between Lola and Anna. So thank you for making different characters so so many different girls can feel connected to the characters. A+ books for an A+ author.

Dear Lola Nolan, 

Thank you for always being yourself. Thank you for being faithful. You are a fun character. You made me laugh. You made me cry. I felt like I could easily be your friend. Lola, you are smart and strong. You know what you want and you go get it. There were times where I wasn't sure that we would get along, especially when you were rude to Calliope but that's my only complaint. Other than that, you were the perfect character for a perfect book. I can't wait to hang out with you again.

Dear Cricket Bell,

*blushes* hi. Thanks for being literally perfect. You're the closest thing to a book boyfriend I've ever had. You're nice and funny and just try to make everyone happy. You're kinda goofy but in a totally sweet way. You and Lola are adorable. You get along so well but you also have your differences and I like that about you two. Thank you for loving Lola and letting her be herself.

Dear Lola and Cricket,

THANK YOU FOR TAKING YOUR TIME. This was not insta-love. I could feel the relationship growing slowly and it made me so happy when you two finally got together. Can I see more relationships like yours? This was a healthy and fun relationship that just filled me with joy and happiness and the way new puppies make me feel.

Seriously, if you like fun, witty characters that aren't super insta-lovey: this is the book for you! I am so glad that I read this book.Still crying about not having Isla yet, though. This is such a fun series. One of my top series I've read this year.

Want to buy this book?: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

I should mention that you should probably read Anna and the French Kiss prior to reading this. They are companion novels, but it just fits better if you read Anna before!

Free Time Fridays [1]

Free Time Fridays is a weekly meme created and hosted by eatupmyfreetime. On Fridays we will recap how we spent our free time during the week + our plans for the weekend! ie. Did you read? If so, what books? Did you shop? Listen to any cool tunes? Binge watch any cool TV shows? Take any trips lately? I want to hear all about it!! You can either mention ALL of the ways you spent your free time that week or focus on one activity. Whatever your heart desires!

How I spent my free time this week:
I didn't actually have that much free time this week. On Tuesday I had my first day of work. I worked Wednesday and Thursday. Tonight I have a baseball game to go to. When I wasn't at work, I was usually sleeping or writing things for my blog.
I really hardly read this week and I'm really upset about it. I wanted to read about 800 pages this week but Tuesday and Wednesday I read around 50 pages total. I may start taking my book to work with me and reading on break.
In the "free time" part of my week it was pretty boring. But other than that I had a great week!

Plans for this weekend:

Friday night I am going to a baseball game. Saturday I work from 3 pm to 11 pm. Sunday I am not working. Hopefully I'll get a bunch of reading done and maybe I won't even leave the bed. I forgot how tiring working 8.5 hour shifts everyday is, but I'm really enjoying the job so far.

How did you spend your free time this week? I'd love to hear about it!

Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Book: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: December 10, 2010
Started: August 3, 2014
Finished: August 4, 2014
Format: E-book
Own or borrow?: Borrow
Synopsis: Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken —and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's waiting for? Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Five french stars! I loved this book. I miss the characters, I miss the setting, and I miss how I felt when I read this book. As soon as I got done reading it, I jumped right into Lola because I didn't want to stop hearing about Anna and Etienne. This was the perfect book.

Usually I don't like the insta-love or the super mushy gushy stuff that happened in this book, but I had just got done reading an 800 page book about Ted Bundy, so I NEEDED fluffy and cute, and that's exactly what I got. I don't doubt that I wouldn't have loved it at any other time. Stephanie Perkins has some serious writing talent.

At times, I actually didn't want Anna and Etienne to be together at all. I didn't like that Etienne was in a relationship and stilled had feelings for Anna and was trying to act on them. That bothered me, but I went along with it because of the book mood I was in. I also didn't like that Etienne's actual girlfriend ended up being the antagonist in this book. She never did anything wrong and just by being the reason that Anna and Etienne couldn't be together, she was the bad guy. That trope needs to be burned and never brought back.

I gotta admit though, Etienne is swoon worthy. He's a sweetheart and tries to hard to make everyone happy. Unfortunately, whoever ends up being happy there is always someone else that ends up being upset. I think that's why everyone likes Etienne so much. Because he's a genuinely nice guy and yet he's making people upset without meaning to and we're supposed to feel bad for him. And we do because he's swoony. Swoony isn't a word but if it was, his face would be next to it in the dictionary.

PARIS. The description of Paris in this book seriously made me feel like I wasn't in Michigan in the summer. I felt like I was in Paris in the winter. It was great writing and great imagery. When I go to Paris one day, I'll feel like I already know everything about it because of this book. Thank you Stephanie for turning me into an art snob.

This book was just adorable. Sure, there were some things that I didn't like. There were things I might have changed but overall, this was a great love story and I'm glad that I finally gave Stephanie Perkins a chance. I'm thinking of re-reading it soon before I get Isla and the Happily Ever After.

If you like cute love stories with even cuter male leads, this may be the book for you.
Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Book Depository

Wishlist Wednesday [1]

Wishlist Wednesday is hosted at Pen to Paper! It's simple: Write about a book that is on your wishlist. Crying can be involved. Then link back to Pen and Paper and look at other people's posts! Maybe you'll find your next favourite book. This is my first Wishlist Wednesday and I'm so excited that I found it!

My birthday is in a few weeks, so obviously I have a long list of books on my wishlist, but I would like to spotlight only one this week. There are a few I'd like to choose from, but overall, this book is one that I will probably cry if I got it.

Book: I am Zlatan
Author: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Genre: Non-fiction
Published: November 7, 2011
Original language: Swedish

In his own words, Ibra tells us about his time on the Malmö FF youth squad, and about the dads from the nicer part of town who tried to get him kicked off the team. We get the full story about the conflicts in Ajax, the sale to Juventus, his successes in Italy and the scandal that almost ruined his career. He tells us about the wins with Inter Milan, about Mourinho, and about his most famous goals. He tells us about Helena, the kids, and his life off the pitch. And for the first time ever we get the whole truth about what really happened between him and Pep Guardiola in Barcelona.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s autobiography is a thrilling look behind the scenes of top division football. [via Goodreads] [link to Goodreads]

Zlatan is one of the most known football (Soccer) players in the world. He's known for his awesome goals, his fabulous hair (okay maybe that's just me), and maybe most of all, his arrogance and his "I don't give a shit" attitude. It goes without saying that I love Zlatan. I also love that he came from nothing and has created a life for himself. He's safe and comfortable, something he wasn't always able to say. His life is sometimes hectic, sometimes frustrating, but always a great ride and I can't wait to read it from him. I put this on my birthday list, so hopefully I can get it. If not, I'm buying it for myself and crying about it.

What is your Wishlist Wednesday this week? Let's talk!

August Recap

On my WordPress, I would do a monthly favourite where I list the books I read that month and which was my favourite and why. I may mix it up a little, but I will still do my monthly post.

In August I had Bout of Books for a week, so I pushed myself to read a lot of books and more specifically, a lot of pages

Books read:

• The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
• Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• If These Walls Could Talk by Mario Impemba
• Wicked Sexy by Anne Marsh
• Night Film by Marisha Pessl
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• The Wicked Merman by Kelly Aplle
• The Wicked Naga by Kelly Apple
• The Wicked Minotaur by Kelly Apple
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
• Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight

Altogether, I read 4923 pages

I would have to say that this month there is a tie for favourites. Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door win the honours this month. Both books are so adorable and fresh. They are different than most of what I've read of YA contemporary because the characters felt so real. My reviews for both of these books will be posted later this week so watch for both of those!

Night Film was also a great book that will stick with me for months. That probably would have been my favourite if Anna and Lola weren't read this month. It was creepy and exhilarating. Definitely a re-read.

This month I:

-This month I participated in Bout of Books. I found tons of new blogs and that is when I decided to switch my blog over to Blogger. I realized what I was missing out on when I wasn't using a self hosted WordPress. 

-I got a new job! I put in an application and within a week I was taking my drug test. I start this week and I couldn't be more excited.

-I made a new blog (obviously!) I'm enjoying myself so far and I've found the "honeymoon" phase of blogging has returned to me. I have so many plans for what I want to do with this blog and I've glad that I have ambition to do it.

-I started tracking how many pages I read a month/day/week/year all of it. For me, personally, it seems like a better indicator than books read. I mentioned a few days ago that I randomly will pick up new books to read them. When I do this, if I don't finish the book then I can't put it down for "read" on read-a-thons or monthly recaps like this. So I have now decided to make my goals pages related, which I mentioned in my September TBR yesterday

So, let's talk: How did you do in August? Bookish or non-bookish! What are your plans for September?

September TBR

September is going to be a tad bit different for me! I am starting the month at a new blog and new blogging site. I've finally made the switch from WordPress to Blogger. I will also be doing a theme for the month! Stephanie Plum is my favourite series ever. Unfortunately, I'm only on book 11 and there are 21 books out. I have decided I'm going to take most of September out (or until I finish the series) to catch up and read all of the books that I haven't read. I will be posting updates on Tumblr and Twitter with the hashtag #StephanieSeptember

• Eleven on Top
• Twelve Sharp
• Lean Mean Thirteen
• Fearless Fouteen
• Finger Lickin' Fifteen
• Explosive Eighteen
• Takedown Twenty
• Top Secret Twenty-One

In between some of these I'm also going to be reading library books and an ARC. If I feel like I need a break (doubt that'll happen let's be real) then I will and continue with the books in October. Once I finish a book, I will update the progress bars and write mini reviews for the books.

0/8 completed

Altogether, I would like to read 6,000 pages

0/6,000 completed