Welcome Back Me

Oh hello there.

It's weird being back. How have you been? I've been good and neglecting any self appointed responsibilities for the past couple months. Now I am back though. I promise.

Please don't hold me to that promise I'm a 19 year old girl and I haven't grown up enough to hold myself to those kind of promises yet.

I'm going to try though.

This is my Spring Resolution post.

My Spring Resolution is to actually post on this blog. I haven't stopped reading or making videos, I just haven't been posting on this here blog thing at all. So I'm going to do that more. Starting with my book review coming up in a couple of minutes after I write it and all that.

Here we go!

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs | Book Review

Hollow City
Ransom Riggs

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, YA
Series: Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #2
Publication Date: 14 January 2014
Number of Pages: 352
Source: Purchased

My Rating: ★★★★★

The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London the peculiar capital of the world. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. Like its predecessor, this second novel in the Peculiar Children series blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reacting experience.

NOTE: This review will have some spoilers from the first book!

Hollow City picks up almost immediately after Miss Peregrine's left off. The kids recaptured Miss Peregrine and head out to find other ymbrynes, a new loop, and safety. The book is packed with action and even more pictures than the first and I absolutely loved it.

I can easily say that I enjoyed Hollow City much more than the first book and I think that's because it jumps right into the action and I already understood the world and what was happening. I didn't have as much of a connection to the characters in the first book, probably for the same reasons. Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children introduces such a new world with new rules that it just takes a while to get used to. I think if I reread the first book now I would enjoy it way more than the first time I read it.

One of the best parts about this book for me was the characters, they are all so unique and intriguing. I love Millard and Emma and, yes, even Enoch. Being able to give them such a diversity of talents as well as defining them personality wise just makes the story so much more interesting.

As I mentioned earlier this world is just so unique and it really helps this book stand out from the others. The addition of all the old pictures along with the strange, new world is just cool. It's also fun to think about where the real origin of all these pictures are. Because as fitting as these pictures are to the book, they came from somewhere and were taken years and years ago for some reason.

All in all I give Hollow City a 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I think I might have given it a 4.75 out of 5 if I could do halves and quarters, but I round. It gets 5 out of 5. Absolutely loved this story and can't wait for the third book!

2014 Reading and Other Goals

I've always really liked setting goals as a way for me to get things done because without goals I sit around doing internet and nothing else. I think they're a great way to motivate yourself. So me being my goal-oriented self I've set a number of goals reading, blogging, and vlogging wise for the upcoming year. (I realize this post is a little late, I just haven't had time to sit down and write it until now which is 2am on a school night.)

Starting with the reading goals,

my main goal this year is to read 100 books. Which is a lot of books. I don't know if I've ever read that many books in a year but I definitely think it's possible. It's a little less than 2 books a week and I can definitely do that if I spend less time doing nothing on Tumblr for hours on end. I think I might add a fancy little widget on the sidebar to keep you up to date on that if I can figure that out.

The other reading goals are all subsets of that goal. I'd like to read:

• 5 nonfiction books
• 5 classics
• 5 comic books or graphic novels
• 5 audiobooks

I would also like to buy less than 50 books this year because I have a serious book buying problem and and even seriouser TBR pile that needs to be tackled hard.

I also have vlogging and blogging goals for the year, though these are a little less defined. In 2014, I'd love to post a lot more reviews on both my blog and YouTube channel. Originally my goal was to review every book I read on my blog which is definitely possible and theoretically I'd love to do that. However I won't be upset if I don't. Probably more the majority of books I read.

As far as vlogging and YouTube stuff goes, I'd just like to have more quality and more quantity on my channel. Far too often I find myself filming videos and then not liking them and then never doing anything with them until I delete them. The only way to get better is to practice and learn and if I just delete the videos it's never going to happen. Also maybe getting a better camera and also maybe computer would help a lot.

So that's pretty much it for my upcoming year. Let me know what you're planning on doing!

December Wrap Up and January TBR

I think I had a pretty darn good reading month in December. I didn't read nearly as many books as I had hoped I would, but I'm also okay with 6 books. Honestly I could have read more if I didn't spend so much dang time playing video games. They're just so addicting! I think my favorite book out of the month was Champion but it's a close call between that and Throne of Glass. If you ask me in an hour I might choose Throne of Glass instead.

January looks like it's shaping up to be a more middle grade focused reading month with Crown of Midnight breaking up the pattern. I'm looking forward to reliving my childhood via books this month!

Books I read in December:
William Shakespeare's Star Wars
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Champion by Marie Lu
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Books to read in January:
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship  of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

BOUT OF BOOKS 9.0!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Hey everyone guess what time it is?! Well it's about 6:30pm right now, but in a few days it's going to be time for the 9th Bout of Books and I'm super excited. It's going to be the 6th through the 12th which happens to go along with my first week back at school for Winter Term. So that should be nice.

I'm planning on making a video pretty soon more in depth with what I'm planning on reading and doing but here are my basic goals:

1. Read at least 3 books.
2. Make at least 3 update posts.
3. Make at least 2 videos about it.

I usually would have some more crazy goals but with everything that's going on, even this seems like a lot of things to be doing. Let me know if you're planning on joining me in the comments or by tweeting me!

December Book Haul

Alright so I actually bought all of these books in November but never got the time to make a book haul for them... So here are all the other books I bought in November!

I am also no longer sick which means more videos and more energy and all around more awesomeness!

Hey guys! So I'm officially no longer sick (but this was filmed when I was still getting better so I'm still a little lack of energy :P) But expect some awesome videos! I have some really cool stuff planned!

Get any of these books with free shipping on The Book Depository!

Books Mentioned in this Video:
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
Champion by Marie Lu
Dune by Frank Herbert
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Graveyard Boy by Neil Gaiman
Glass by Ellen Hopkins
More Than This by Patrick Ness
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Enclave by Ann Aguirre
Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

November Wrap Up and December TBR

I basically took a month off of reading and only read one book last month. But December is a huge reading month for me so I talk a little about that and what I'm planning on reading.

Buy any of these books on The Book Depository and get free shipping anywhere!

Books Mentioned in this Video:
Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull
William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Quidditch Through the Ages
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor