July Book Haul + Wrap-Up

HAPPY AUGUST!! Summer is almost over, my favorite season is coming up --football, I mean FALL :) and then the holidays! I'm getting a little too ahead of myself and time is almost too literally flying by but this is my favorite time of the year. 

July was a very busy month. As I mentioned in my last post, we just moved into a new place and July was full of buying new things to fill up our home and doing major cleaning and throwing out and countless errand runs and even more paperwork all while taking care of children and working our jobs. Here is a small list that I was able to compile for last month:

1. I was able to get more reading done than I thought I would. That's always a good thing, right? I read a total of SIX books and I was pleasantly happy with them all.

1. Jesse's Girl by Miranda Kenneally

2. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

3. Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally

4. Revenge, Ice-Cream and Other Things Best Served Cold by Katie Finn

5. I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

6. The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

I didn't have time to write reviews on any of them, but I will. I will also be writing a post of my favorite read and least favorite of the month soon, so look out for that. But to quickly summarize my experience, overall I flew through these books. I will also go on record to say I prefer Morgan Matson over Katie Finn. I'm on the final book in the series and it is getting on my nerves. Hearts, Fingers and Other Things To Cross was a DNF for me for July. I will try to finish it this month but it just seems to immature for me. In general, the concept of revenge is such a childish act that I don't ever take those writings or stories seriously. I also started The Unexpected Everything and I'm enjoying just not as much as maybe other book bloggers. I do want to see where it goes, though so that's on my TBR for August. For some reason, I went on a Miranda Kenneally binge. I've said it before, but she's the author to one of my all-time favorite books Catching Jordan and I've only read one other book of hers so I decided to give them a read. they did not disappoint. They are very cute, and funny and exactly what I needed to help me through last month. 

2. I made a quick book store run. I didn't have time to browse thoroughly so I grabbed a small amount of books that I have already read but didn't have a physical copy of the book and I'm slowly collecting the Nancy Drew series again. I used to own a bunch of books waaaaaay back in the day but they got lost through all the moving around we did growing up so every time I see them in the store, I pick one or two or three up and add them to my collection. 

3. We had an amazing 4th of July. We've made it a tradition when we moved to orange county to go to the local high school to watch their fireworks show. This year was even better than the last! My kids had a blast playing in their jumpers -- they had all kinds of jumpers for every age. We ate from their delicious food trucks and enjoyed the live music. Their fireworks is number 1 in the OC for a reason!

4. I watched Bad Moms with a fellow bad ass mom ;) a good friend of mine that I've known for almost ten years now, took a break from our families to watch a movie I've been anticipating since early this year. It was HILARIOUS! Kristen Bell is one of my favorite actresses (her and her husband, Dax Shepard, are the ultimate marriage goals) and I've been following her since her Veronica Mars days. Mila Kunis was great, too. All of the ladies rocked it! It was maybe the female version of The Hangover. It's up there with Bridesmaids as my favorite movies. We had dinner afterwards and hung out for a few hours just catching up. I had a blast. Definitely made us realize we need more nights out like we used to!

5. The bf and I started a new show. We are now hooked on the TV show Shameless. It's been on for seven seasons! We're only a few episodes in but we love it. It's different, witty dark humored, and disturbing at times, but it's awesome. 

July was busy and August will be about the same. Plus, football Sunday starts this weekend so Sundays will officially be booked until February 2017. We're loving our new home, even though there are still a million things to do! Per usual, I don't have a TBR set for this month. I want to finish a couple books that I started but I think August I'm going to focus on my blog and update reviews and freshen it up a little. I really want to start a booktube channel but am having trouble with it. Any help will be appreciated! Thanks for sticking around and as always, HAPPY READING! :)

Life update + bookish thoughts

Hello EVERYONE! Can you believe we are now halfway through the year?! Where does the time go? Well, A LOT has been going on with me since my last post... in April?! Gah!! I hate to admit but not much reading has gotten done. Not because I don't want to-- I've actually been craving to read because I miss it so, but I really don't have time to read. Here are a few things that have been going on with me:

1. Since my last post, I got a new job :) still not in the field that I studied for (but that is still in the works!) but I'm good at it and genuinely enjoy it, and my new job is near the beach so the weather is always beautiful and my co-workers are pretty awesome. I've been here for over two months now and there is ALWAYS something to do, so I don't have as much downtime to catch up on reading or blogging.

2. We moved! Fortunately, we are in a bigger place that better fits our big family. And also our extended family! This was a long time coming because there are now seven of us and we need SPACE, and now that we have it, we all love it but our kids aren't climbing all over us as much which is what we wanted but now we miss it. They're too busy exploring the place and enjoying their rooms. 

3. There's been lots of family time! :) we've taken them to drive-in movies (Captain America: Civil War and Finding Dory), special trips to random places, we've attempted to explore our surroundings so we've forced ourselves to get "lost" so as to find new adventures, we celebrated Mother's Day and Father's Day and Memorial Day by the bf experimenting with BBQ recipes. It's been pretty awesome these last few months just hanging out with my family. My kids are getting older and getting antsy being at home, so we take them out to let out some steam. And though they do have their moments, we've loved watching them learn and grow. 

4. Very. Little. Reading. I've tried to pick up a book, and I did manage to read two books since April, but because there is so much going on, reading has been pushed down to the bottom of my to-do list. I did make a trip to the bookstore once and bought a good amount of books, and aside from a few Kindle deals here and there, I haven't been excited to pick up a book and read. Life gets in the way sometimes, and the order of important things in my life has changed drastically since being a mom and continues to change on a daily basis. 

It's a small list in print, but in reality, it's much more chaotic and eventful. Life is amazing right now, and the rough patches has only made the big moments that much sweeter. We're very happy with where we are, and now that the best of sports is officially over (I mean really, who watches baseball for fun?) we plan to enjoy the rest of summer making more memories with our kids all while unpacking and fixing up our new home. 

Now on to bookish related talk... I read Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally in TWO sittings, and although it's not my favorite by her (Catching Jordan takes the trophy), I enjoyed it and I give it 3.75 stars. Like I mentioned earlier, I've been craving to read a book and I figured a nice YA, fun, quick read would do the trick, and it did. I picked up I'll Meet You There  by Heather Demetrios and I'm rally liking it so far. I didn't even read the synopsis. I just picked it up because I remember when it first came out, it was a much anticipated and raved about book so I decided to give it a try. I also read a nice steamy read in Addicted to You by Kristie and Becca Ritchie and LOVED it but I keep forgetting about it, you know what I mean? Has that happened to you, where you loved the first book in a series and want to read the next book but for some reason keep forgetting about it? Anyway, I will be picking up the second book soon. Summer used to be about contemporaries and light reads, but as I've gotten older, it's now more steamy, borderline eroticas that feel more summer-like to me. Am I the only one? 

I would post pictures of the book haul from a couple months ago, but ALL my books are packed. Let me tell you, those were not fun to pack! And I'm sure the bf would tell you they were even LESS fun to haul around from our old place to the new place. I highly doubt he'll ever let me live that down. I have plans on where to set up my books, but I will save that for last. Our focus is to get the girls' room ready first so they can start sleeping in there and get out of my room! Ok ok, they're begging for it, I'm the one lagging because I don't want them to leave me. But my new library will be so pretty, I can see it now...

Happy Fourth of July weekend, fellow readers. Be safe and have fun! And as always, happy reading :)

New Monthly Features

While I was writing yesterday's March Wrap-Up post, I accidentally came up with a new monthly feature I want to introduce into my blog. I'm not sure if other book bloggers do it or if there is a name for it, but I call it "Read It or Leave It". It's pretty self-explanatory but it's basically just stating my favorite book for the month and my least favorite book of the month. If I haven't put a review for said book, I will post the review along with an explanation as to why I liked it or why I didn't like it. And even if I don't like it, I will leave a recommendation for those that may be interested in it, because even if it wasn't my cup of tea, it could be someone else's next favorite book. As they say "one man's trash is another man's treasure", this couldn't be more true for book lovers.

Another minor feature I want to add to my monthly recaps, or wrap-ups, is list a few things I did for that month and maybe list (if I have plans already made) of what will be happening in the following month. After reviewing my wrap-up, I noticed I wrote a huge paragraph recapping the month of March when I just could've simply made a numerical list to make the post look cleaner overall. 

Remember, fellow bookworms, I'm still fairly new to this bookblogging business, so what you may find to be a common sense thing, I am just starting to figure out. I am open to suggestions, comments, advice, etc. on ways to improve my blog or make bookblogging easier, so please, let me know. And I would love to check out other book bloggers' blogs (??) so if you have one, leave your link and I will definitely follow! I will introduce these features next month since I basically did it for March's wrap-up and I don't want to repeat myself. But anyway, Happy Saturday, have a beautiful weekend, and as always happy reading! :)

March Wrap-Up + Plans For April

I could have sworn I read more than four books in March, but the month just flew by so I guess I didn't. Still, it was yet another great month for the books! :) the bf got loads of birthday presents this time around. Nothing too extravagant, he's a pretty simple guy. He was happy with the many video games, movies and clothes he got. I went to San Diego early March for what was my first time and I fell in love! I went with some of the ladies from NFLFemale (a sports site where I write about my beloved Philadelphia Eagles). We're definitely going back again-- whether it be a family trip or a football game, I don't care, but we're going! We also took our kids to Santa Monica for their first time and they had a blast! For Easter, we joined in on an egg hunt which was fun and odd at the same time. Later n the month, the bf and I had a rare date night so we watched Batman vs Superman, which I wasn't too impressed with, but those few hours of alone time was pretty awesome. And another exciting thing we just started doing is rearranging our apartment. Spring Cleaning Round 2, we call it, but this time much more thorough. As in walls getting painted, furniture being thrown out and bought, that kind of thing. We just got started and we still have a ways to go, but we did the kids' room first and it came out AMAZING so I'm excited about this new project. Change is always good :)

In terms of reading, I thought I did pretty good. It wasn't a lot of books, but for the most part, I enjoyed each book I read. Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor became one of my favorite reads so far this year and Start with the Backbeat by Garine B. Isassi was my least favorite for the month (all my reviews have been posted, so make sure you check those out for more of my thoughts).

I received a lot of books that I requested from NetGalley, which I'm really excited about, and I'll be reading the rest of them this month. I purchased quite a few books this month, too, and I hope to get through some of them in April.

Kindle:

Book stores:

April, I predict, is going to be full of surprises. There are two book events happening this month and I plan on going to both. The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is next weekend and the 2nd annual Yall West is at the end of the month. I went last year and got lots of my books signed by some pretty awesome authors. I can't wait to go again! I don't have a set TBR, but like I mentioned earlier, I still have a handful of books to read from NetGalley and I want to get to How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran for the "Our Shared Shelf" book of the month, a book club hosted by the gorgeous Emma Watson on Goodreads. I want to cut down my spending on books for this month because the NFL schedule will be released sometime this month and we want to save up to attend hopefully two games this year. So unfortunately, books will move towards the bottom of my list for a while. Luckily, I do have PLENTY of books to read and to get me through any urge I feel to buy books. 

2016 has been very good to me so far, let's hope it continues. Happy April, enjoy the April fool pranks and as always, happy reading! :) 

Review: Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

"What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason?"

Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having "one drop of Japanese blood in them" things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys.

Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naive, eighteen-year-old Nora the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change.

For months, they've lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window.

In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away.

Set in 1953, Nora & Kettle explores the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, "a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world."

RATING: 5 stars

**I apologize before hand for not being able to give it a proper review. I honestly couldn't find the right words to express how I really felt about this book. It is not only one of my favorite reads of the year, but of all time. And I've read some pretty damn good books. I sincerely hope you all give this book a read, only then will you really understand what I mean. As I let this book sync in some more, I'll write a much more descriptive review. So please keep checking in for that.**

I'm a huge fan of US History. It's one of my favorite subjects in school and favorite genres to read, historical fiction and non-fiction, and so when I came across this book on NetGalley, I knew I had to read it.

This book is most definitely not for the faint of heart. It was hard to read, not because it was horribly written or it was difficult to understand (at least not int he traditional sense-- more on that later) but because our main character, Nora, who I consider one of the bravest, strongest and smartest heroines I'v ever read about, endures some traumatic experiences under her father. Kettle easily became one of my favorite characters to read about. His courage and his loyalty to those around him shows just how caring human beings can be even during times of duress.

The era of WWII is my favorite in US History. I find it so fascinating even though it probably is one of the worst times in our country's history. And unfortunately, we don't too often hear about the Japanese internment camps nor the aftermath. Another reason to read this book, it gives another perspective for those who are curious.

My heart ached, it broke and it tore to pieces throughout the entire book. I can't go into detail or give it a proper review without giving away any spoilers. I definitely recommend this book, but be warned that this is NOT for the light-hearted.

Review: Start with the BackBeat: A Music Novel by Garine B. Isassi

It is the spring of 1989 in New York City when Jill Dodge, a post-punk rocker from Texas, finally gets her big promotion at Mega Big Records. She is thrust into a race to find a gritty, urban rapper before the Gangsta trend passes their label by. As Jill and her mostly middle-class coworkers search for the next big rap star, they fluctuate between alliances and rivalries, tripping over the stereotypes of race, class, and musical genre. They work to promote their current roster of acts as well as the new rap artist they sign to a contract. It turns out, he may not be what they expected. Full of original lyrics and wit, "Start With the Backbeat" is a compelling examination of the nuances of class, race, and culture in America which are sometimes ridiculously serious."

Rating: 3.75



For the most part, I enjoyed this book a lot. I liked the musical aspect of it. I appreciated the references to poop culture and I also loved that it took place in the 80s when rap was morphing into what I was familiar with in the 90s- gangsta rap. The moral of the story wasn't hard to figure out but the story was a little too zany for me. There were times where I didn't know where it was going or details I didn't think were necessary, hat could have been left out.

Overall, I fount this story relatable and I think this is a genre that I can see myself reading more from. This is my first "musical novel" and I think it's genius to incorporate music into a book (although I know Colleen Hoover was the first that I can't think where I read it). I recommend his book if you're in a mood to get inspired to write a song or even if you want to experience something new and if you want to be entertained.

Book Haul: February

I realize this is a couple weeks late but I'll go ahead and post this anyway because I wanted to share the books I hauled last month. Yes, I went a little crazy.

Books I purchased:

I also purchased quite a few eBooks on Amazon for my Kindle (there was an awesome sale):

P.S. I also bought the Friends Pop Funko collection. Aren't they cute?

As always, happy reading! :)