Wishing you all that you need in 2016 :)

Happy End of 2015!!

Happy Beginning of 2016!!

May your shelves be full of friends and your fingers free of paper cuts!

With starting up the blog again, participating in #OTSPSecretSister and discovering my love of all things Instagram, I've had a pretty fun 2015.

My family is fantastic, my friends are awesome and my bookcases are overflowing - what more could I ask for ;)

I read a little over 60 books this year - which isn't an ideal number but I didn't have any reading goals set and I was coming off a major 2014 reading slump so I'm super happy with this number!

Here are my favorites!! (thanks to Instagram because me = obsessed ;)

A photo posted by Emily De Maria (@wilowraven) on Dec 31, 2015 at 1:26pm PST

Happy Reading Everyone! 

Can't wait to see what 2016 has to bring!

And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down...

...and swallowed me up whole

except the rain is Christmas

and instead of eating me it's totally consumed EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE!

not a horribly bad thing mind you

but...a very time consuming thing

My family and I are hosting Christmas this year - which we have never done (stress!)

We are total homebody introverts who hardly ever have company over and now 4 other full human adults will be in our house for an entire day (stress!)

We need to cook (stress!)
Clean (stress!)
And holidayfy ALL THE THINGS (stress! stress! stress)

And you know, still do things like work full time, shower ourselves, eat meals occasionally, pay bills and live as an adult like life as possible (which on a good day...is usually not very adult like ;)

I had lots of plans for blogging this month - I was going to schedule the hell out of posts! Tweet and Instagram like a superstar! Reply to emails immediately!

and well

my plans kicked me in the arse

December is one of my favorite months because Christmas for me means family - and cutting down a tree, and decorating, and listening to music, and baking and candy and advent calendars and all the silly and wonderful family traditions and I love it all!

And those previously mentioned plans? They didn't really leave room for all the December things I really wanted to do.

And not blogging regularly? It was causing stress! Which is a big big no no in my new outlook on blogging.

So you know what? I'm giving myself a break. I'm saying it's ok to not blog or engage much on social media this month because IT IS OK.

I might be gone until next year. Or I might find myself with free time and be coherent enough to review something in the next couple of weeks.

In any case though, I'm not going to worry (stress!) about it. I'm going to enjoy all the wonderful things in my life as much as I can.

If you're made it this far I thank you and I hope your December is as stress free as it can be. And if it isn't? I'm officially giving you permission to ease up on yourself. You're doing your best and your best is always good enough.

I also wish you and yours a happy, safe December and holiday season!

Thanks for listening :)

Book Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Book #4 of the Lunar Chronicles
Genre: YA Sci-fi Fantasy
Publication: November 2015 by Feiwel and Friends
Acquisition: bought

Synopsis:

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

(from Goodreads)

5 / 5 Stars

I can't imagine a scenario in which someone would read books 1-3 of The Lunar Chronicles but decide not to finish the series with book 4.

Ok - I guess it could happen. I'm actually terrible at finishing up series.

You know what, I change my mind -- I totally can imagine a scenario in which someone reads books 1-3 of The Lunar Chronicles but doesn't read book 4.

But you know what?

You need to NOT be that person and you totally need to read book 4! (or books 1-3 and then book 4 if you haven't read any of the series yet) (or books 2-3 and then 4 if you only read Cinder and then for reasons we have already established exists, didn't continue with the series) (OR you need to....you're picking up what I'm throwing down here right?)

Bottom line - It's a fabulous series and Winter is a fabulous end to the aforementioned fabulous series.

:)

I really do love this series and I couldn't have been happier with Winter.

It's not a perfect story - maybe a little unrealistic on the happily ever after front? But you know what? It all really worked for me.

There were some surprises. Some things didn't turn out the way I thought they would. But it made sense and it nothing felt rushed or out of the blue.

I've have strong feelings for these characters and with a lot of characters spread over 4 books, that's A LOT of feelings.

The Lunar Chronicles is a series I'm always recommending to folks. I'm sad that it's over but I'm so happy I stuck with this one to the end!

November 2015 Wrap Up: The Yeah, It's That Time of Year Edition

It's December and it's cold and it might snow soon and I have ALL the things to get ready and ALL the cookies to bake and ALL the Merry Making to Make!

November was a bit of a blur and I haven't actually been able to blog for a few weeks .

I'm not letting it get me down though.

One of the reasons I stopped blogging a few years ago was because it felt like a chore and it wasn't fun anymore because I would get so upset and so mad when I didn't blog -or if I didn't blog 'right'.

I'm done with all of that.

That's not to say I didn't get some twinges of angst as more and more days went by without a post going up.

But you know what? It's all good.

I'm still happy doing what I'm doing!

Now - let's see what I was up to in November.

(Linking it up over Feed Your Fiction Addiction and if you post a monthly wrap up you should too!)

THE REVIEWS

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics | REVIEW 5/5 Stars
The Bargaining by Carly Anne West | REVIEW 3.5/5 Stars
Hello? by Liza Wiemer | REVIEW 4.5/5 Stars
Fairest by Marissa Meyer | REVIEW 5/5 Stars
Nirvana by J.R. Stewart| REVIEW 2/5 Stars

NOVEMBER READS

Strangelets by Michelle Gagnon
Hello? by Liza Wiemer
Fairest by Marissa Meyer
Winter by Marissa Meyer
After the End by Amy Plum

Hope everyone had a great

November!

Happy Reading!