R.I.P. It Or Ship It Book Tag

    For my next post, I decided to do a book tag. I was browsing a list and saw one called the R.I.P. It Or Ship It book tag. Basically, you just get a bunch of character names (they don't have to be from the same book or series) and put the names in a cup or hat or whatever works for you. Then, you draw two names and share if you ship it (wanting characters to be together) or not (hence the R.I.P. part of the tag). So without farther ado, here it is:

1. Tamlin from A Court of Thorns and Roses and Snape from Harry Potter  BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! If you've read both books, just... just picture that and... okay, I don't ship it, so it's a R.I.P. it from me.
2. Katharine from Three Dark Crowns and Feyre from A Court of Thorns and Roses                         You know, actually, I can picture it... kind of. Maybe Feyre from the first book, but not from the second and third ones. So... ship it, I guess? It's better than Feyre and Tamlin, that's for sure! 
3. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter and Maxon from The Selection                                            I can kind of picture it. Maybe it would work out, maybe it wouldn't... so I guess it's undecided.
4. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter                      Yeah, no. Just, no. I feel like Katniss would murder Luna. It's definitely a R.I.P. it.
5. Harry Potter from, well, Harry Potter and Murtagh from The Inheritance Cycle                           Oh man, Harry would annoy Murtagh SO MUCH. Can you imagine? Definitely a R.I.P. it.
6. America Singer from The Selection and Eragon from The Inheritance Cycle.                                 Nope. America would absolutely detest Eragon. R.I.P. it.
7. Inej from Six of Crows and Celaena from Throne of Glass                                                               Actually, I think it would work out. Yeah. They'd totally bond over knife throwing techniques. I like this way better than Celaena and Dorian. I ship it.
8. Eadlyn Schreave from The Selection and Kai from The Lunar Chronicles.                                     No way would this happen. Eadlyn would hate Kai so much. R.I.P. it.
9. Grace Brisbane from the Shiver trilogy and Kile Woodwork from The Selection                             I ship it. I feel like they'd totally get along. That is, if they were both single. I think that if they were both dating they'd also make great friends.
10. Edward Cullen from Twilight and Cassian from A Court of Thorns and Roses                                *falls on the floor and dies laughing* R.I.P. it. But it would be funny to watch.

YA Books I'm Excited for in 2018!

    2017 may be almost over, but when 2018 begins, there will be a whole plethora of new YA book releases. Here are some of the ones I'm looking forward to the most:

A Court of Frost and Starlight, by Sarah J. Maas
    If you know me (or have been paying attention to this blog at all), you know that I am obsessed with Sarah J. Maas books, especially the ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) series. The fourth book will be released on May 1st, 2018. I can't wait!!

The seventh Throne of Glass book, also by Sarah J. Maas
    It doesn't have a title yet, but this won't discourage readers from counting down the days until the book is released (sometime in fall 2018). And hope that no one we like dies.

The World of Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
    Seeing a pattern here? I honestly don't know what it's about, but I'm still excited. This book will be released on May 1st, 2018.

The Fates Divide, by Veronica Roth
    This is the sequel to Carve the Mark, which came out in January 2017. I have no idea what will happen, but I can't wait to find out. This book will be released on April 10th, 2018.

War Storm, by Victoria Aveyard
    This is the fourth book in the Red Queen series, and it's supposed to be released May 15th, 2018. I'm almost afraid to read it because I feel like a bunch of major characters are going to die. 

Legendary, by Stephanie Garber
    This will be the sequel to Caraval, which was released last January. I'm not sure how the story will be continued, since it seemed to have wrapped up pretty well at the end of Caraval, but I liked the first book, so I'm going to read the second. Legendary will be released on May 29th, 2018.

My Plain Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton
    I read My Lady Jane over the summer and absolutely loved it. My Plain Jane is about Jane Eyre, which I tried to read but ended up abandoning. Maybe reading My Plain Jane will lead to me reading Jane Eyre! This book will be released June 26th, 2018.

Book 3 in the Three Dark Crowns series
    This book is untitled, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending of One Dark Throne and I'm excited to read this book on September 4th, 2018, when it is released!

    I hope you got some suggestions for what to read in 2018 from this post, although all of the books are in a series, so I'd suggest reading the other books first. Feel free to add a comment telling me what books you are excited about in 2018! 

How to Keep Up A Decent Bullet Journal

    First of all, I apologize for not posting for so long. I was just so busy. Since I'm on winter break now, hopefully I can post more often.
    Today's post is going to be about how to start and maintain a decent bullet journal. Depending on what kind of bullet journal you want (minimalist, fancy, aesthetic, etc) this might look a bit different to you, but you can get a general idea. 

Journal consistently
   This is probably the most important thing, because if you get out of the habit you're not going to end up continuing to journal. This has happened to me several times, and I'm hoping that it won't happen again.

Don't compare yours to ones on the Internet. Seriously. Don't do it.
    It will just make you sad and feel like you are awful at bullet journaling even if you really aren't -- you're just not as good as the people on the Internet.
    
It doesn't have to be fancy
    Sure, if you Google 'bullet journal' and click on images, there will be these incredibly fancy pages from bullet journals. However, this does not have to be the same with you. You can literally just have bulleted lists with no doodles, no color. Just a pen and some paper.

Use brush-tip pens
    If you're going to use fancy pens and/or make your bullet journal look like the ones on the Internet, use brush tip pens/markers to write and draw.

Practice
    If you are going to be using calligraphy to write in your bullet journal, you should probably practice before writing in your bullet journal so that it turns out the way you want it to.

    If you have any other tips or suggestions, feel free to add them in the comments!

How to Get Through NaNoWriMo (Alive and in One Piece!)

    I haven't been posting because I've been so busy with NaNoWriMo -- that's National Novel Writing Month. Find more about it here. Even though November is over halfway through, that doesn't mean that NaNoWriMo participants are stopping: in fact, this is probably just making us write more (fun fact: I upped my goal from 1,667 words per day to 2,000). So how do you get through NaNoWriMo alive and with a finished novel? Here's a blog post on it!

Take breaks.
   Yes, yes, I know you're trying to write 50,000 words by November 30th, but you shouldn't run yourself into the ground trying to write 3,000 words a day or something. That will only bring you tears.

Take care of yourself.
    Please, get some sleep. Especially if you have a busy schedule or have school or work. And eat too. Just because you're trying to write a novel in 30 days doesn't mean that you have to neglect everything else.

Set goals.
    Sometimes you fall behind where you're supposed to be, and that's okay. If you are actually trying to finish by November 30th, you might want to make up for this by writing a bunch on a day when you know you can (I once went from 13,138 words to 18,000 words in less than 24 hours).

Plan.
    I'm not one for plotting out my stories, but I do keep a document called "Plot" that has any notes I want to make to myself about what's going to happen later in the story. I also have similar documents called "Characters" and "Settings."

Don't stress.
    I know you might want to, but it will only bring strife.

If you have writer's block, don't keep writing.
    Seriously!! You will not write anything good if you do!!

    Thanks for reading this post! It will probably be the last one until December. Now I'm off to go write more.

Hamilton Book Tag!

    As some of you may know, I am currently obsessed with Hamilton. If you don't know what that is, it is a very popular Broadway musical by Lin Manuel Miranda about founding father Alexander Hamilton, from his childhood up until his death by rival Aaron Burr. Anyway, when I found out there was a Hamilton book tag, I just had to do it! Because it is my first time doing a book tag, it might not turn out amazing, but here it is!
Be warned: spoilers ahead!!


You guys, I've got to say Harry Potter! I love Hogwarts, I love the magic, and I would definitely enjoy all the food! I think I would even do Hogwarts homework without complaining because I feel like even that would be fun.


    There are so many underrated female characters ("and Peggy!") but I'm going to go with Marlee from the Selection series, by Kiera Cass, which you should definitely read if you haven't already. She is so brave and strong from the second book onward, and really matured after what happened in The Elite. And she also proves how strong love is.



    Aelin Ashryver Galathynius from Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series, of course! She wants freedom? Boom, done. Revenge for her friend being murdered? Finished before you can say bad idea. A desire to eat chocolate cake at two in the morning? You can bet she'll sneak of to the kitchens to get some, or just get a servant to do it for her!

   (SPOILERS BELOW!!) 

There are several that I have in mind, but I've got to go with Hazel and Augustus from The Fault in our Stars (I mean come on, who didn't cry!?) and Celaena and Chaol from Throne of Glass. The latter used to be my OTP until they (SPOILER!) found other people, but how they broke up was completely uncalled for.



    I'm drawing a blank here so I'm just going to go with Snape from Harry Potter. If you have a better one, please leave a comment!



    How about THE ENTIRE A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES SERIES!!?? Literally the entire second and third books I was screaming and crying and throwing the book.



    Definitely The Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer. If you like sci-fi and dystopian, you should totally read this series!!



    Every Soul A Star. If you have not read it yet, what are you doing?



    Even though I already said Harry Potter, I'm going to say it again for this one because it feels like it's already a classic!

    (MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER!!!!)

    I'm still not over Fred's death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Killing 1/2 of a twin, THAT IS LOW DOWN!!

    What are your answers to these questions? Leave a comment below; I'd love to hear it!!

Halloween Books to Read if You Don't Like Horror

    I always want to get into the spirit of Halloween and read some Halloween books, but I don't like to read horror. I get scared easily and have an overactive imagination and you can bet when I'm trying to fall asleep I'll start thinking about that time when the character heard footsteps behind them and no one was there. If you're like me and can't stand horror, I've compiled a list of books to read during October. And if you do like horror, feel free to comment your favorite horror book!

• Ghosts, by Raina Telgemeir (middle grade)

    When sisters Cat and Maya move to a new town in Northern California, they realize that there are ghosts in their town.

(Scare factor: the ghosts are more cute than scary)

• The Shiver trilogy, by Maggie Stiefvater (YA)

    When Grace Brisbane discovers that the wolves that live in the woods by her house are werewolves, her life changes forever.

• The Raven Cycle, by Maggie Stiefvater (YA)

    Blue Sargent, the ungifted daughter of a psychic, encounters four boys who are searching for an ancient medieval king, Owen Glendower.

(The photo features the Shiver trilogy and The Raven Cycle, as well as The Scorpio Races, also by Maggie Stiefvater, but not included in this list)

• The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling (all ages)

    The series follows the adventures of Harry Potter, a wizard, from the time he is eleven until he is seventeen and his quest to defeat Lord Voldemort.

(The photo doesn't contain the whole series, and the quote on the bookmark is wrong, but you get the idea)

    I hope you enjoyed my list of books to read around Halloween time if you don't like horror. If you have any other books that you think I should have included, feel free to leave a comment!

My Writing

    As some of you may know, one of the things I like to do when I'm not reading is write. In fact, I used to have another blog where I shared my writing. 
    I've recently been working on a story that is still untitled, but I figured I share the first part of it on my blog. It's not very long, and I will continue to post more of it if people seem to like it. Anyway, without farther ado, here it is: 

    The first to awake was the Universe. She came to one day and felt around for what there was. All she could feel were trillions and trillions of light years of blank, empty space. The Universe wondered why there was no one else here with her, but after thinking, she decided she liked being alone and retreated deep into herself, not giving anything much thought for a long time.
    Eventually, the Universe became alert again and thought about companionship. This time, she realized that she really was quite lonely and wanted someone to endure the cold, empty silence with her. And the Universe knew that to create, she must give up a small piece of her energy to do it. She was reluctant at first, however after pondering the matter she decided to go through with it. The only problem was, she didn't know what to create.
   She wanted something that was as bright she was dark, as talkative as she was silent, and perhaps a little bit less mysterious that she herself was. And so the Universe created the first star, which was everything she wanted, and she could hardly feel the drain on her energies. 
    That first star was known as Atlas. The Universe loved Atlas dearly, but she was unable to take a form other than the darkness surrounding Atlas. One day, the Universe gathered up her courage and said,
    "This will never work out. Look! I created to to be everything I am not. You are light, I am dark. You are small, I span billions of trillions of light years in each direction. I cannot manifest in a form similar to yours. It would be better to spare the heartbreak and end our relationship now. I can create for you another star, or perhaps something else. Anything will be better than me."
    Atlas was torn and refused to comply, but the Universe withdrew and wouldn't talk or interact with Atlas. She spent her time creating stars, galaxies, and planets, all of which had a human-like form to appear in. She did this and more, and the creating took up her time and energy. The Universe began to feel weaker and took to resting while she was not creating. Atlas, however, became cold and impassive, perhaps almost cruel, and denied any attempts other stars and planets made to pursue him. The Universe, growing ever more silent and weaker by the day, did not notice Atlas' unhappiness, nor his growing hatred for everything that the Universe had created: all the galaxies, stars, planets, and asteroids. It's like she doesn't care anymore, Atlas thought bitterly. Like we never loved each other. 
    Meanwhile, the Universe appeared to the constellations of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. 
    "My powers are becoming weaker by the day. Everything that I have created demands so much energy. Don't worry, everything will be fine," she added as Cancer began to panic. "It's just that I conserve more energy if I rest."
    "Yes, but why are you telling us this?" asked Sagittarius. 
    "I am going to sleep for eternity," replied the Universe. 
    "Eternity?" gasped Capricorn.
    "Eternity," replied the Universe. "And so I need you to rule in my place. I know you will be just and good. I have been observing you for quite some time now." And there was a great tremor throughout the entire Universe as she went to sleep.

    I hope you enjoyed the first snippet of my story! Please leave a comment below telling me if you would like me to continue posting it here! Thanks!

Every Soul A Star Book Trailer

    If you've read all my blog posts, you'd know that I absolutely love the book Every Soul A Star and think that everyone should read it. So of course when the opportunity presented itself, I made a book trailer for it! In addition, I have the image links below the trailer.

Image Links:

• The music was prerecorded from WeVideo

http://s3.amazonaws.com/digitaltrends-uploads-prod/2017/01/telescope.jpg

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Three Dark Crowns Review

   As promised on my One Dark Throne Unboxing post, I have a review of Three Dark Crowns up, but instead of adding a summary, I made a book trailer. The images used in the trailer are not mine, and so at the bottom of the post I'm going to include all the links just so I make it clear I'm not plagiarizing. 

Three Dark Crowns

Author: Kendare Blake

Publisher: HarperTeen

Synopsis:

My thoughts:

   Overall, I really enjoyed this series! I think it had a bit of a slow start in the first book, but the pace got a lot faster as the book went on. I liked the characters a lot, but I feel like Katharine changed a lot from the first to second book and the change was rather abrupt. 

    I also thought that the ending was kind of anticlimactic, but I did like that there was a lot of action and suspense before the ending. I also had several guesses about how the book was going to end but it ended up being completely different than what I had originally guessed. 

    This book is a YA book, but I think that if middle grade readers wanted to read this book, they could, however they should be warned that this book is rather morbid. 

    Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Links to the images on the trailer:

The music on the trailer was one of the prerecorded ones on WeVideo.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwimoMTn0tTWAhWn44MKHYobBvEQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fodors.com%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Fnorthern-ireland&psig=AOvVaw0vLfkBROqa9Cs5B8ff9Bdd&ust=1507126740349447

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjSuZn11dTWAhUE8WMKHTc3A4oQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpierrebphoto.com%2F2014%2F11%2Fthree-little-girls-lots-laughs-montreal-portrait-photographer%2F&psig=AOvVaw0lAooVfNL4uuFbHuaIb_3Y&ust=1507127580201852

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwik0a3X2NTWAhVBx2MKHVHyA4gQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epicreads.com%2Fbooks%2Fviewmedia%2Fid%2F1679%2F&psig=AOvVaw0ygEfTPXHBqeoDLtmCV3hK&ust=1507128322747507

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi-xJnQ2dTWAhUM5oMKHWPqBucQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fit.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F479351954074320878%2F&psig=AOvVaw0R_iKU28I5UBfeyiWZjuwK&ust=1507128580774015

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwih3P7Y2dTWAhVJ6IMKHSAjBvAQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F226868899958546642%2F&psig=AOvVaw0R_iKU28I5UBfeyiWZjuwK&ust=1507128580774015

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiylsre2dTWAhUB04MKHWunCKcQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.dk%2Fpin%2F571535008951412708%2F&psig=AOvVaw0R_iKU28I5UBfeyiWZjuwK&ust=1507128580774015

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjvvJHk2dTWAhVG34MKHTj2D4kQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fdfdance_dogge%2Fthree-dark-crowns%2F&psig=AOvVaw0R_iKU28I5UBfeyiWZjuwK&ust=1507128580774015

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwip0oa-udXWAhUH6IMKHTXaBNUQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvampirediaries.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AHand_of_fire.jpg&psig=AOvVaw1WsDkRVTu1xlt4PNCAjzXV&ust=1507154305487404

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjcy9P2utXWAhWj34MKHRV9CTsQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwpnature.com%2Fpink-petals-fragrance-tree-scent-nature-freshness-branches-spring-flowering-season-blooming-blossoms-garden-leaves-wallpaper-flower-for-android%2F&psig=AOvVaw3Ty-99HJcz9m-kHOp4rDDC&ust=1507154693113296

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How to Take A Library Book Jacket Off

    It's a fact of life that buying books are so much more efficient if you get them from library book sales. But they always have stickers on them and the library book jacket isn't very photogenic. So, having recently figured out how to take it off, I made a tutorial video showing how to do it. Enjoy!

One Dark Throne Unboxing!

    Apologies for not posting for so long! School started and it was hard to post consistently, but hopefully I will start posting regularly again soon!
    Anyway, today my copy of One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake came in the mail so I made an unboxing video! I wish the book could have arrived sooner but it was a signed Barnes and Noble exclusive copy and couldn't be picked up in the store. 

    I will have a review out for the Three Dark Crowns series as soon as I finish One Dark Throne.

    Have you read this series? If not, you definitely should!

Betsy-Tacy Review

Betsy-Tacy

Author: Maud Hart Lovelace

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Synopsis:

    There are no other girls Betsy's age on her street, so when a new girl moves into the house across the street, she is very excited. When Betsy meets Tacy, so begins a lifelong friendship that was based on they author's experiences of her own friends. The entire series follows Betsy and Tacy as they grow up, documenting their adventures, sorrows, and joys.

My thoughts:

    I haven't read the entire series yet, just the first four books that were combined into the one, but I really like it so far. It reminds me a little bit of the Anne of Green Gables series, which I also enjoyed. I feel like a lot of people can relate to Betsy and her friends even though they lived in the early 1900s. I did have a couple of questions though. Maybe someone knows the answer? The first one was if the author wrote this to be realistic fiction but couldn't happen now anymore because the time period is too long ago, is it considered historical fiction? Or is it still realistic fiction? The second one wasn't really a question, more of an observation. I noticed that the parents in this story didn't seem to keep track of their children as much as parents today do. For example, when Betsy and Tacy were 5, their fathers would go to work and their mothers would stay home, and their mothers would basically be like, "Okay, go play now," and Betsy and Tacy just ran around the town and surrounding areas having fun. At the age of five!! If that happened today the parents would be labeled as "bad parents" but back then it was just considered normal. 

    I can't wait to read the rest of this series!

    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

The Fault in YA

    Sometimes I really enjoy reading YA books, but other times, I feel like I'd rather stick to classics. Here are some problems I have with YA:

 No diversity.
    In a lot of the YA I've read (especially dystopian) have white, middle class, straight teenagers. I mean, not everyone is like that, so come on! Incorporate a little diversity into your book for the people that are not white, straight, and middle class! 

The romance.
    I think I said something to this extent in my These Broken Stars Review, and how that relationship was forced. But I still haven't read a book where the main character doesn't fall in love. Yes, I understand that YA is geared towards teens and young adults, and I understand that most teens and young adults are in relationships, but that does not mean that 100% of teens and young adults are. I have no problem with romance, I like reading romance, but sometimes I just want the main character to not find their "one true love" when they are a junior in high school. 
    In addition, a lot of plots center around the love triangle, which I absolutely hate. I once read a book where there was a girl having to choose between like 3 different guys who were all jerks. And it's like, this girl is sixteen or seventeen and she's choosing which boy she wants to be with for the rest of her life. 

The mystery in the romance.
    In a lot of books the main character notices the love interest and because the love interest is such a big mystery, the main character falls in love with them. What ends up happening is the main character falls in love with this idea of a person built upon the mystery surrounding them, so by the time the love interest isn't a mystery anymore (and in fact, is often revealed to be a jerk), the relationship falls apart.

Gorgeous characters.
    There's nothing wrong with having a character that is good-looking, but not every teen has to look like a model with absolutely no effort. Even in dystopian societies where the majority of people can barely afford to find something to eat, and yet are insanely beautiful. And even if the character thinks they don't look good, it's obviously clear that they do. 

    What are your problems with YA? 

Alex and Eliza Review

Alex and Eliza

Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Synopsis:

    Albany, New York, 1777. As the threat of a revolution hangs over the American colonies, the Schuylers, one of New York's most prominent families, are holding a ball with hopes of getting one of their three eldest daughters --Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy-- engaged. Among the guests is Alexander Hamilton, a young aide to General George Washington. 

    Hamilton is there to bring bad news to the Schuylers, but he cannot help but notice Eliza Schuyler. And thus begins a romance that will change American history.

My thoughts:

    I'm pretty certain Alex and Eliza was written because of Hamilton the musical (in fact, to get in the mood, I'm listening to Hamilton as I write this post). I enjoyed both (the book and the musical), although they did have some differences, which means neither were entirely historically accurate, but that was okay, because it didn't make the quality of the story worse. I really enjoyed learning more about Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler and their lives because listening to the musical you get a feel for what happened, but it's always nice to learn more. 

    Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

    Have you listened to Hamilton? Do you like it? What's your favorite song? Favorite character?

TBR Jar: What it is & How to Create One

    A TBR Jar? you ask yourself. What on earth is that? (Or maybe not. Maybe you already know what it is) 
    Well, as you might have guessed already, that is what I am going to explain. 

What is a TBR Jar?

    Remember my post So, What Exactly is this TBR? (if you don't, no worries. Also, you can click the name of the post and it will take you to it.) Anyway, in that post, I mentioned that there is no right or wrong way to make a TBR. The TBR Jar is just a visually pleasing, creative way of doing it.

    To put it simply, a TBR Jar is a jar with pieces of paper in it. Each piece of paper has a book title in it (the titles will be ones you want to read (your TBR). When you need a new book to read, simply pick a piece of paper out of the TBR Jar. Add to the jar as needed.

    I stumbled upon this idea online and decided to create one, then thought: This would be a really cool blog post! So as I go through the steps of how to make a TBR Jar, there will be pictures of mine. 

Step 1: Obtain a jar

If you're like me, this shouldn't be very hard. I just used an old Mason jar (which can also be used for canning). If you'd like the jar to be visually pleasing, you can find it elsewhere.

Step 2: Label the jar (optional)

    I just taped a Post-It note with 'TBR Jar' written on it to the jar. If you don't feel the need to do this, don't (in fact, I might remove the label sometime).

Step 3: Consult your TBR and write down the titles

You can write it on pretty much anything. I thought of writing the titles and then folding them into origami cranes, but I decided to just write them on Post-It notes.

Step 4: Add them to the jar

Enough said.

Step 5: Mix up the titles and draw your first one!

    Unless you don't need a new book yet. The one I chose was These Broken Stars. And remember, you should probably keep the titles you've picked to read next out of your TBR Jar so you don't end up drawing them again.

    

Girl in the Blue Coat Review

Girl in the Blue Coat

Author: Monica Hesse

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Synopsis:

    In 1943 Amsterdam, Hanneke works with the black market to deliver extra rations of sought-after goods if the customers pay. Her work keeps her family fed, clothed, and sheltered. She has no desire to join the resistance movement against the Nazis, but she considers this her small act of rebellion.

    One day a customer comes to Hanneke and asks for help finding something. Only, it's not extra meat or lipstick, it's a person. A Jewish girl named Mirjam who was hiding in the house but mysteriously disappeared, leaving no clue as to where she could have gone. At first, Hanneke wants nothing to do with this mystery, but eventually ends up trying to find Mirjam. If Hanneke fails, both her and Mirjam will most likely die. 

My thoughts:

    I thought that the mystery in this book was very intriguing and I think the fact the Hanneke made several wrong turns in trying to solve the mystery made the story more realistic. 

    I also thought it was cool that there were so many ways that a civilian could perform small acts of rebellion and not be out there yelling that the Nazis were bad and immediately get shot. For example, a lot of people had hidden cameras that took pictures to prove after the war that the occupation really happened. There were also people that smuggled babies and toddlers out of the holding place where Jewish people were kept before being sent to the concentration camps. They took the babies and toddlers to new families so that they could have a chance to live their lives. 

    In conclusion, this book was action-packed, suspenseful and taught you a lot about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. I'd recommend it to middle grade readers and older.

    Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Every Soul A Star Appreciation Post

    I think I put Every Soul A Star on my post Middle Grade Books to Read This Summer, but I just put a brief synopsis of it. In case you've forgotten, here it is:
Realistic fiction coming-of-age story, told through the perspective of 3 young teenagers who all end up at the Moon Shadow campground to witness a total eclipse of the sun.
    The eclipse is fictional by the way, but the Great American Solar Eclipse is coming up on August 21st. The total eclipse (the whole sun covered by the moon) can only be viewed in certain areas. Learn more about the eclipse here. 
    Anyway, Every Soul A Star deserves a lot more attention and readers. Here's why:

The characters are very relatable (yes, even the one who lives at a campground in the middle of nowhere).
    Even though the three main characters are not going to be just like you, their struggles and feelings are ones you can feel too. Not to mention that they are all very different characters, so it's amazing that the author was able to do that.

It teaches you a lot about astronomy.
    Never heard of exoplanets, the Messier objects or don't know any constellations? That's okay, this book will explain it all, while still moving forward with the story. In fact, I'm almost certain that this book is the one that got me into astronomy.

It has a good message.
    Or messages. What the characters learn throughout the book is valuable, and they are all much changed by the end. 

It's long enough to tell a good story and short enough that it doesn't take that long to read.
    I mean, that's bad news if you wanted the story to continue, but... 

    Every Soul A Star is an amazing book! I wish there was a sequel and I think that anyone looking for a good book to read who thinks this book would be interesting should read it!
 

These Broken Stars Review

These Broken Stars

Authors: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Publisher: Hyperion

Synopsis:

    The Icarus is a huge spaceliner traveling through hyperspace. Nothing could go wrong -- until it does. In a Titanic-like surprise crash, it crashes onto the nearest planet. No one survives, except Major Tarver Merendsen, a war hero, and Lilac LaRoux, daughter of the richest man in the universe. The planet is uninhabited by any people.

    Lilac and Tarver begin a long journey through the planet in search of some way to get help. They must trust each other or they will both die. But after a while, they begin to wonder: do they actually want to leave this planet?

    However, when they discover who is behind the whispering voices that plague their dreams --and even their waking moments-- Tarver and Lilac realize that they might leave the planet, but they will not be the same people who crash-landed with the Icarus.

My thoughts:

    This book started out a little slow, but it got better as it went on. No, this wasn't why I didn't like this book as much as I felt that I could have. The problem? The romance. Now, I don't refuse to read books with romance in them. I like reading books with romance. But the romance in this book felt so forced. Like maybe the authors were collaborating and went, "What genre is this going to be?"

    "YA."

    "Oh, better have Lilac and Tarver fall hopelessly in love! And better yet, make them star-crossed lovers! This is geared towards teenagers, after all!" NO. NO. NO. I feel like this decision to have the main characters in love made the story a whole lot worse than it could have been otherwise. It honestly felt like they hated each other, and then they did something that improved their prospect of survival, and then they were making out and passionately in love. I don't know, maybe if Tarver and Lilac's relationship was given more time to grow, I would have liked it. 

    In addition, reading this book made me realize something: I have yet to read a single YA book where the protagonists do not fall in love. If you have, great! But every single time I read a YA book the characters fall in love! Yes, I get that YA is geared towards teens/young adults and they oftentimes are in relationships, but that does not mean every teen is! Can't there be at least one book where the girl and the boy are just friends and there is no pressure on either of them from the other for their relationship to develop into anything other than platonic?

    Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

How to Put off Reading A Bad Book

Do you hate the feeling of knowing that this book is bad? Do you want to find out what happens to the characters but you just can't stomach one more badly-written phrase? Yeah, me too (it's happening to me right now, in fact). Here's what I do to keep from reading the book:

DNF (do not finish) it.

This one is probably the easiest and simplest option out there. If you abandon the book, you won't have to read it. Problem solved. But if you still want to find out what happens, or you hate the book but it's required reading, check below.

Read other books.

I hate that when I'm reading a bad book I spend more time on my phone because I don't want to read. So I end up reading other books too (just the other day I read 3 so I didn't have to read a book I didn't want to).

Bribe yourself.

I once had a book that was required reading and it was awful. I ended up saying to myself, "If you can finish this chapter, you get to read something better." Reading that bad book was torture, but at least I got through it.

Go slowly.

This one seems kind of obvious too, unless you need to finish it by a certain date. I once had a different required reading book that I had about 3 weeks to read. I read like 5 chapters in the first 2 weeks because the book was so bad, and I had to cram the rest of the book into one week. But if there's no date the book has to be finished by, this is an okay tactic. Although it might get annoying that you're still reading it after a while.

Convince yourself it's not that bad after all.

Okay, fine, this one probably won't work. But hey, you can still give it a try!

    Do you have other things you do when you're reading a bad book? Share below in the comments!

My Lady Jane Review

My Lady Jane

Authors: Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Synopsis:

    The real Lady Jane Grey was crowned queen after her cousin, King Edward VI , succumbed to tuberculosis. After only nine days of sitting on the throne, she lost her head. End of the story. 

    However, the in-story Lady Jane gets married to Gifford Dudley, who turns into a horse every day and a man at night. King Edward somehow survives but fakes his own death, and Jane didn't die. She needs to get the help of the E∂ians (pronounced e-thee-ans, people who can turn into animals) to overthrow Queen Mary, Edward's brother, who wanted to take the throne instead of Jane. 

My thoughts:

    Because the authors basically threw history to the winds (in a good way) I did end up going "that didn't really happen" a lot. However, I still really enjoyed this book! I think a lot of people wouldn't know about Jane and this book had some true information, although it would be better off to research her if you are looking for some facts. 

    This story was comical and serious at the same time, and the characters were well written. There was even the right amount of mystery thrown in, which made for a book that I devoured within a day!

    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

    The authors also have a website, www.ladyjanies.com!