Why I Journal

I used to think journaling was stupid and overrated. I even bashed journaling on this blog in a post about why you should start a bullet journal: I wrote, "I don't know about you, but I always felt it was a struggle to keep a journal with daily 2-page-long entries because it just took so long." And that used to be true until I realized that I didn't have to write a detailed description of everything that happened during my day. I could just write whatever thoughts popped into my head as I was writing. So here's what made me pick up a journal and keep writing in it after not journaling for three years. 

I can write anything in it
One of the reasons I chose to keep a paper journal instead of an online journal was simply that a paper journal is more private as long as nobody reads it. I can write down anything without feeling like I'm being judged or having to worry about what others will think of my thoughts.

It lets me see my thoughts on paper
When I write what I'm thinking down, I can see what it is I'm thinking. I can actually remember it too! And in the future, it will be fun to see what I was thinking and doing now, because I'll end up forgetting the little things. 

Notebooks!
I have a notebook problem. I have about five unused notebooks that I'll probably never end up using, but every time I'm in a store with a stationery section it takes all of my self-control not to buy a new one. I can never figure out what to put in them, and so when I keep a journal, I can actually use one of the many notebooks that I own. Or I just have an excuse to buy another one.

I can write out my feelings
When I'm feeling angry or sad or confused, I can write about it in my journal. This is especially helpful if I don't want to talk about it but I can write about it. Sometimes if I write a rant about something when I'm angry, it makes me less angry and it also feels good to get it off my chest.

It's a keepsake
I touched upon this earlier, but in a few years, it's nice to be able to read the journal you kept and look back on what you were thinking and doing and see how you've changed. It's also really entertaining to read journals you kept when you were young (at least for me) because of how different I was then from who I am now.

It can help with goals
It's scientifically proven that you're more likely to accomplish a goal if you write it down. More than once in my journal I have written down that I wanted to accomplish something and putting it in writing makes me feel like I have to do it, which makes me actually do it. In addition, sometimes I'll write down goals that I have for myself in the front cover of the journal so that I can look at them easily.

You start to notice the little things
Not every day has huge events that you can write about. Sometimes I'll just write about little things from my day or little observations I made or something inconsequential. By doing this, I can remember the smaller parts of my day that I probably wouldn't otherwise. And if I do forget, rereading my journal reminds me again!

Journaling has now become a part of my everyday routine, and I'm very glad that it has. I didn't really expect to like it as much as I do, and the fact that I filled up my first notebook ever because of journaling makes me really happy. Do you journal? Why?

The Priory of the Orange Tree Review

The Priory of the Orange Tree

Author: Samantha Shannon

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Synopsis:

In a world where travel between East and West is forbidden and punishable by death, the dragons stir from their thousand-year-old slumber, endangering all of humanity should they wake. The only hope lies with the line of Berethnet queens, who much each conceive a daughter to carry on the line. However, Queen Sabran has not done so yet, and the entire kingdom of Inys is growing anxious. Meanwhile, Ead Duryan, a lady-in-waiting loyal to the Priory of the Orange Tree protects Sabran with her forbidden magic. 

In the East, Tané trains to become a dragonrider, a dream that she has held since childhood. However, a decision made within a few minutes may change the course of her life and the others around it. She must make a choice as to what to do, and soon.

My Thoughts:

First of all, this book seems like a mix between Eragon, Seraphina, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Throne of Glass. Those are some of my favorite books/series, so I had high expectations for The Priory of the Orange Tree. However, it didn't exactly live up to my expectations. It wasn't as good as the other series that it seemed to resemble, but I did still enjoy it.

In the beginning, it was a little slow before the action began, but after that, I didn't think that it was boring or slow at all. It was also a little confusing at the very beginning of the story, because there were so many different names and histories and religions and places but it did get a little bit better after a while (although by the end of the book I was still a little bit confused about some things). 

I enjoyed the worldbuilding (although, as I said above, it was a little bit confusing) and I especially liked how there were so many different cultures and religions in the story, which made it more exciting and interesting. The cultures and religions were really well developed so I liked that as well. I also liked the different personalities of the characters, and how there were a number of gay relationships and it was just a casual thing instead of a big deal.

One of the things I didn't like was that there seemed to be several "main conflicts" within the book and a lot of them seemed built up to be this big climax and a big deal and then it was resolved really easily and I just kind of felt like I had been let down by the conflicts being resolved much too simply.

Overall though, I did really enjoy this book. I think that it's a great read for teens, but it is long (over 800 pages) so you should only pick it up if you enjoy reading longer books. I don't know if I would reread it, but I certainly liked the time I spent reading it.

My rating: 3.5/5 stars

June TBR

June is on its way, and with it comes summer and more time to read! In preparation, I've created my TBR (using Goodreads) for June. I'm probably going to end up reading WAY more books than just this, and I'll be reviewing some of the new books that I read (I'll definitely be doing Pride and Prejudice and The Priory of the Orange Tree). Since June is pride month, I decided to include some books featuring LGBTQA+ characters as well. I'm also planning to read some middle grade books but didn't end up including them on this list because they'll take me a day or two to finish. So, without further ado, here's my TBR for June:

1. Scythe by Neal Shusterman
2. The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston
3. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
4. Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (reread)
5. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (reread)
6. All for One by Melissa de la Cruz
7. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
8. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
9. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (finish it)
11. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
12. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (reread, although I read it a long time ago)
13. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (reread)

What's your June TBR? Let me know in the comments!

Why You Should Not Read Shatter Me

Warning: this review will contain spoilers. 
This book is quite possibly the worst I've ever read (and I generally like most books that I read). I picked up Shatter Me because I had read mixed reviews and wanted to see what it was like myself. And it absolutely sucked. 
I put tabs in the book, color-coded, to mark where I wanted to come back to for this review. And almost every single page is marked. So let's start from the very beginning:
First, the weird strikeouts. It was very hard to read and understand what was being said. For example (and I couldn't get the strikeouts to work, so I'm putting the words that are in strikethrough in parentheses): '"You're getting a (cellmate) roommate,” they said to me. “(We hope you rot to death in this place) For good behavior,” they said to me. “(Another psycho just like you) No more isolation,” they said to me.' (And can we all agree that "they said to me" was used WAY too much here?) I'm pretty sure that the strikeouts were used to show what Juliette was really thinking, but it never said this explicitly in the book, and the strikeouts just kind of went away as the book went on, which was a bit odd.
Next, the author seems to have periods of little to normal description of the setting, and then she does something like this: 'I always wonder about raindrops. I wonder about how they're always falling down, tripping over their own feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble right out of the sky toward an uncertain end. It's like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn't seem to care where the contents fall, doesn't seem to care that the raindrops burst when the hit the ground, that they shatter when they fall to the floor, that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors.' WHAT IS THIS. This isn't a book of poetry, it's a YA novel that has a plot (well, in theory) and characters. And there are only a few places where the author does things like this, which makes it even weirder.
Then, there's literally an entire page that just says 'I am not insane' in strikeout, and when I saw this I literally almost threw the book across the room because WHY WHY WHY???
The society that they live in seemed really intriguing, and I feel like a lot was said about it in the first few chapters and then nothing, which kind of frustrated me.
My second biggest problem with this book was the love interest and then freaking love triangle. I HATE love triangles. And the two boys in the love triangle weren't even likable characters. Adam seemed to be there just as a plot device and to give Juliette something to fight for because he's just the perfect man that will do anything for Juliette and is so hot and amazing and everyone loves him!! (Yeah, right). Not to mention that he's conveniently the only one who can't touch Juliette! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!! (Oh, and Warner can touch her too, again, HOW CONVENIENT). And don't even get me started on Warner. Everyone who likes the book seems to love him, and since I haven't read the rest of the series and have no plan to, I could be missing out on some huge character development in later books, but from the way he behaved in the first book, I just don't see why anyone could like him. He's self-centered, power-hungry and egotistical. Like when he gave Juliette that test with the child and her two options were to let the child be skewered on spikes or die from Juliette's touch, and Warner just says, "Absolutely amazing." And Juliette even says, 'Possessive is not a strong enough word for Warner.' And THEN Warner says THIS: "Admit it, we're perfect for each other. You want to power. You love the feel of a weapon in your hand. You're... attracted to me. Don't lie to yourself, Juliette. You're going to come back with me whether you like it or not. But you can choose to want it. You can choose to enjoy it." And then a few paragraphs later, "But I love you." And a few paragraphs after that, "God I'd love to just take a bite out of you." This does not sound like Warner loves Juliette, it sounds like he has an obsession with her and just wants to control her. In no way would this be a healthy relationship and just reading that made me feel disgusted.
That whole part where Juliette is told she has special powers and blah blah blah just felt SO overused. How many times have I read this before in a YA dystopian book? And that brings me to my biggest problem with Shatter Me: it was just so predictable: she's going to fall in love with Adam, they're going to escape, then they're going to find the rebels and Juliette will be used to fight against the Reestablishment but she'll fall in love with Warner and then they'll topple the Reestablishment together. I have no interest in reading the rest of the series, and even if I did I'm pretty sure I know what's going to happen anyway.
All in all, this book was absolutely terrible and I recommend it to no one, unless, of course, you're looking to torture yourself.

Jane Eyre Review

Jane Eyre

Author: Charlotte Brontë

Publisher: Smith, Elder, & Co.

Synopsis:

    Orphaned Jane Eyre is sent to Lowood School for girls, and then accepts a governess position at a mansion called Thornfield. She finds herself falling in love with the master of the house, Mr. Rochester, but unbeknownst to her, Mr. Rochester has a secret that could end their relationship.

My thoughts:

    I enjoyed this book a lot, and since it was one of the first classics I've read and understood, it made me want to read more. It had a strong female main character even though it was written in the 1800s, and the phrasing wasn't as formal as some classics are, which makes it harder for me to read and understand them. I found myself on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next, even though the sentence "Reader, I married him" is one of the more famous excerpts from Jane Eyre. Another thing I like about classics is that modern authors have written lots of spinoffs and it's fun to see the twist of the original story and how the two stories compare (for example, I read My Plain Jane in July and loved it!).

    One thing I didn't like about this book was the romance. Mr. Rochester is twice the age of Jane, not to mention that he has anger issues, and honestly I really don't understand what Jane ever saw in him. However, this is kind of expected since the book was written in the 1800s when a relationship like this would have been common, so I let it slide a bit.

    I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys classics, although if you do there's a high chance that you've already read it!

    My rating: 4 out of 5 stars  

Harry Potter Inspired Recipe: Butterbeer

    Recently, I looked through the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, and it was very cool to see all of the recipes that come up in the Harry Potter books. Unfortunately, the cookbook didn't have butterbeer, the drink that Harry and his friends enjoy when they go into the Wizarding village of Hogsmeade. So instead, we decided to find a recipe for butterbeer online and make it. It turned out really well, so I wanted to share the recipe and how we made it, as well as how it turned out on this blog! 
    The recipe came off of delish.com and can be found here. It is not my recipe, we just decided to use it. So without further ado, here is the recipe and my review:

Ingredients Needed (makes four servings):

• 4 cans of cream soda (1 for each serving)
• 1/4 cup of butterscotch syrup 
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of melted butter

Directions:

1) In a large bowl, combine the cream soda and butterscotch syrup and stir them together. (This is the drink part and is incredibly easy)

2) In a mixer/different bowl, beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in the sugar and the vanilla, then the melted butter until no longer streaky. (This is the topping part and is a bit harder)

3) Pour the butterbeer into glasses and then put the cream mixture on top.

(The picture is my own)

    All in all, the butterbeer did not take that long to make, and the ingredients were pretty easy to obtain (except for the butterscotch syrup, but we ended up ordering it off of Amazon). The butterbeer looked amazing and tasted amazing too, although personally, I feel like it was really rich so you could actually divide it up into more than four servings because I didn't finish all of mine and it's pretty hard to save it. I would definitely recommend making this recipe if you or someone you know is a fan of Harry Potter!

DIY Bookmarks

    There are two types of people in the book world: people who use bookmarks, and people who don't. Now, a lot of people call people who don't use bookmarks monsters. I'm not going to go that far, because I used to be one of those people who didn't use bookmarks (I dog-eared pages and also tried to just remember the page number, which worked about as well as you'd think it would). However, sometimes a bookmark is just not available, so you use anything: a receipt, a Post-It note, an old gum wrapper, a piece of paper. And when you do have an actual bookmark, it feels like a luxury. However, I started making my own bookmarks a while ago, and it's surprisingly easy and fun. So naturally, I decided to make a post about how to do it on the blog.

Supplies Needed:

• Paper
• This could be cardstock or just any kind of paper, but stronger paper is better
• Paper cutter, or scissors if you don't have a paper cutter (a paper cutter provides a clean, straight cut)
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Some kind of pen, marker, etc for the design

Step One: Mark the dimensions of the bookmark on the paper
    The bookmark can really be as big or as small as you want. Since I've made bookmarks before, I know the dimensions that I want to use. My advice is to mark with a pencil the boundaries of the bookmark, as shown in the picture:

Step Two: Cut the Paper
    This is fairly self-explanatory, but I'll still include some pictures:

Step Three: Design!
    Before you start designing, you should probably erase the pencil marks just to make it look cleaner. After that, it's really up to you. You can make designs or write quotes from anything or just leave it blank. If you're writing anything, it's a good idea to write it in pencil and then go over it in pen or whatever you're using. I've even used watercolor paints on bookmarks before, but it was harder to do than just drawing:

As you can see, this is a very simple craft that doesn't require much time orf supplies and is a craft you can actually use! Did you end up making DIY bookmarks? Let me know in the comments!