March Reads

Wow! How has another month came & gone? Time goes so fast lately I swear. I did a little better on books this month, but I still need to start reading more if I want to reach my goal of 100 books this year. The books I read this month were:

1. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
2. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
3. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham
6. Paper Towns by John Green 

1-3 Was a series and I really enjoyed it, but it took me longer than I expected. I loved the characters, but when compared to The Mortal Instruments, another series by Clare it just wasn't as exciting.

I did a blog on number 4. Again, did not care for it.

I loved number 5 because it is a continuation from the show Veronica Mars, which is one of my all time favorite TV shows. Reading it was basically just like watching it in my head. I could picture all the actors perfectly and it was written exactly like the show. If you have never seen Veronica Mars I highly recommend the show (it has three seasons, junior year of high school, senior year, and freshman year in college), the movie (it takes place ten years following the last season of the show), and now the books (this one takes place about a month or so after the movie ended).

I like John Green's style of writing and wanted to read number 6 before the movie came out this summer. I liked it and am going to try to read some more of his books. Let me add that to my ever growing list of books to read. 

According to Goodreads I am still 10 books behind schedule. Neat.  

Book Review: Never Let Me Go

Title: Never Let Me Go

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro

Page Length: 288

Summary from Goodreads: As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life, and for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special--and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

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I will be honest, this book left me pretty blank. Normally I feel really happy/sad/or angry when I finish a book. I felt nothing after this one. It was almost like I hadn't even read it. And then I found out it is a movie with Kiera Knightly. What!? I don't understand. I can think of a million books that are better to be turned into a movie. But whatever. This will contain spoilers because if you haven't already read it I don't think you should and therefore I will let you know why. However, if you want to read this book (why???), don't read this review. 

Here's what I liked about the book:

1. I liked Kathy and Tommy a lot. I HATED Ruth. Ugh that girl. Too bad I didn't read this before I did my characters I hate post. She definitely would have made it on to that list. That being said I enjoyed reading these characters. 

That's it. I don't think I really enjoyed much else. 

Here's what I didn't like about the book:

1. You're literally confused for the first half of the book on what's even happening. Then you start to clue in and find stuff out but you can't even be surprised. And then it ends. Nothing happens. Well, nothing super interesting or important. 

2. I couldn't even tell when the book was set. 1970s? 2070s? Sometime not in the 70s of any millennium? I vote 1970s but it was still weird. Maybe it was harder to relate to because I'm not from England? I don't know. 

3. What is a carer?! Someone who sits with people when they die? From what I could tell they have no medical training. There are nurses and doctors mentioned and they are not them. 

Basically. You're cloned off someone, typically a low person in society. Prostitutes and drug addicts seem to be the norm. You're created to die. You get to live a little. Take care of other people while they're dying. And then you get to die. What!? No. This is dumb. The moral if you will of the story is that they're created to cure the world of major diseases like cancer and heart disease. And this is important. Also, you see some dynamics of people not wanting to deal with the fact that they were basically playing God and creating people willy nilly to then kill. In theory the use of clones like that could be an interesting read, but to me this book did not deliver.  I was disappointed about this book for 2 reasons. 1. I had seen other people who had read this book and really liked it, so I assumed I would too. LIE. 2. The summary has the words special and gift to describe them. I thought they would have like cool superpowers or something. SPOILER, they don't. 

Maybe I'm being too harsh. I mean I didn't necessarily hate the book. But it will definitely leave my memory soon and it will be like I didn't even read it. My advice: Skip it. Read something else. Something better. 

Tuesday Top 10: Characters I Hated

So a month ago I said I was going to do a post over characters I hated. & then I never did. Whoops. So here it is. I tried to pick characters I really despised and could actually put into words why. It was a little harder than I thought it would be. Mainly because I have a terrible memory for remembering all the books I've read and my brain tends to only let me think about recent ones. 

1. Sebastian/Jonathan from Mortal Instruments. I mean he was just plain awful. Always making trouble/trying to kill everyone. If he is your favorite person we need to look into some underlying issues you may have. 

2. Valentine from Mortal Instruments. Again, trouble, trouble, trouble. I basically compare him to Hitler in my mind. He wanted a supreme race. Was willing to do just about anything to make it happen. All around bad dude. 

3. Percy from Harry Potter. You don't abandon your family! Period. 

4. Voldemort from Harry Potter. I mean you can't have a characters you hate list and NOT put him on it. He's on it for Hedwig and Dobby alone. 

5. Umbridge from Harry Potter. Okay I truly hated this woman. She was the worst. Who makes you carve into your skin?! Psychos, that's who.

6. Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter. Ugh. Lies, lies everywhere. Constantly trying to instigate. Ain't nobody got time for you Rita. 

7.  Lilly from the Princess Diaries. One of the worst best friends ever. She was terrible to Mia. A best friend that only brings negativity to your life is not a best friend you need. 

8. President Snow from Hunger Games. What is with all these old men trying to ruin young girl's lives? Oh, plot. Look, the man constantly poisoned himself to avoid suspicion as he poisoned all his enemies. That is one sick individual.

9. Cindy from The Women's Murder Club series. Cindy is just plain dumb. Always putting herself in bad situations without thinking. Whenever I get to her parts in the book I usually have to take a break because I get so annoyed.

10. Nate from Infernal Devices. WHAT A TERRIBLE BROTHER. He deserved what he got. 

So there are a few of the people who get my blood boiling. I know there are more but this is what I have for now. Now I must go look at pictures of butterflies and rainbows to get out of the terrible mood thinking of all these people put me in! Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all! 

February Reads

I did not read as much as I would have preferred this month, but I did still read a few books. Goodreads still likes to taunt me with how behind I am though. So the books I read this month are:

1. Shelter by Harlan Coben

2. Just One Day by Gayle Forman

3. Just One Year by Gayle Forman

4. Just One Night by Gayle Forman

5 . Yes Please by Amy Poehler

This list horribly depresses me. Books 2-4 were all read in the span of like 4 days. So it's sad to see that for the remaining 20+ days of January I only read two other books! TERRIBLE! 

However, I have been pretty busy with work and school. Also, my husband and I recently started watching American Horror Story, so we've been watching that a lot in the evenings when I used to read. 

In other news, we had two snow days this week! I love snow days. We did nothing but binge watch TV. It was wonderful. What wasn't wonderful is I got my days all confused and forgot about a semi big homework assignment I had. Snow 1. Colleen 0. 

Hopefully March will be a much better reading month! I am currently 8 books behind (ugh) so I am going to need to read a ton if I have any hope of ever getting caught up! Tonight I am going to see Miranda Lambert in concert with two friends from work & I am super pumped! Happy Friday, y'all! 

Top 10 Best Friends

Today's Tuesday Top 10 is devoted to my 10 favorite fictional best friends. Best friends are the best. I have about 5ish best friends split between a few towns and I would be lost without each of them. 

1. Simon from The Mortal Instruments. Sweet, sweet Simon. True, he started out in love with Clary, but hey, it happens. I am super excited about reading more about Simon in Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy, which comes out today! (Also, let me do a side note here about if you have not read The Mortal Instruments yet, DO IT. Easily surpassed all my old favorite series to become number one.)

2. Hermione and Ron from Harry Potter. I combined them because their group had three and I definitely wasn't going to try and say who was the better friend (although clearly it's Hermione). Harry definitely would not have survived (literally) without his best friends and that's how I feel about my friends! Sure I'm not out there fighting to finally rid the earth of the world's worst villain, but hey, to each their own. 

3. Dee from Just One Day. Oh how I loved Dee. Dee was exactly what Allyson needed when she went to college (& as you learn from Dee's mother, she was exactly what he needed as well). They built an unlikely friendship and I think those are the best kinds. I have one friend who when I met her I was like NOPE. And now my life would be terrible without her. Just goes to show you can't always judge outer appearances. 

4. Gale from The Hunger Games. Poor Gale. Another man in love with his best friend. I won't lie, at the beginning I was rooting for Gale. They understood each other. But as time went on, I realized how much better Gale was at just being Katniss' friend. That being said I still love Gale. He was a good friend to Katniss, even if he might have wished things could have been a little different.

5. Alec from The Mortal Instruments. LOL see above. But all things aside, Alec was a great friend to Jace and his sister Isabelle. Their group dynamic was neat, they all supported each other and really cared about one another. 

6. Claire from the Women's Murder Club series. Claire is easily my favorite character of this series. She has a good head on her shoulders and she is still hilarious. If I was to pick a cast for this book I would definitely want Maya Rudolph to play her. 

7. Ema and Spoon from Shelter. I am just getting into this series but I love Ema. She is hardcore & doesn't care what anyone thinks of her. She is quick on her feet, which Mickey definitely needs. I foresee them getting into lots of trouble together. The other member of their group is Spoon. Spoon is sweet and often overlooked by others because he is odd, but he has proved himself valuable to Mickey and Ema. 

8. Isaac from The Fault in Our Stars. I loved Isaac. When Isaac's girlfriend dumps him because he will be blind he has a meltdown. Literally. And that's realistic! Who wouldn't freak out. One of my favorite parts of the book is when he, Gus, and Hazel go and throw eggs at her car. Isaac may be blind, but who cares, her car deserved to be egged. 

9. Kim from If I Stay. Kim was a great best friend. I really enjoyed getting to "see" what she was up to in Where She Went. Through everything her and Mia remained close, which is a true friendship. 

10. Last, but not least, Eleanor & Park from, you guessed it, Eleanor & Park. I loved watching their friendship grow and eventually turn into something more. Neither had ever had such a great friend before. They were there for each other through even the hardest of times. 

So there you have it. 10 of my favorite fictional best friends. I would take any of them to be in my circle of friends! Sometimes I have a hard time making these lists cause my brain refuses to remember books I read over a month ago and tries to stay with only current books. Today's was hard too because instead of remembering all the people I liked in books, I could only think of all the characters I hated. So that will be next weeks Tuesday Top 10! Stay tuned :) 

Snow Days

Let's be honest, snow days are the best. Or as they should be called in Arkansas, ice days. There is nothing more I enjoy than laying on my couch with my five (yes I am crazy) animals all snuggled up & reading a good book. & that is exactly how I plan on spending my day, once I finish the homework I put off of course. 

Currently, I am reading about 5 different books. Seriously. Why? Because I am crazy. The books I am reading are:

1. Yes Please 

2. Pride & Prejudice

3. Cinder

4. Wintergirls 

Okay, so it's actually only four books. Sue me. I am hoping to finish Yes Please today because it is a library book & expires in like two days. Last week or maybe the week before, I seriously can't keep up with time anymore, I read a really great series by Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay. The first book was called Just One Day, the second was called Just One Year, & the third (which was basically a glorified epilogue) was called Just One Night. 

I loved this series. It took me about a day on each of the main books. I checked the first out of the library and then could not wait on the second two and ended up buying them. I plan on doing a review on the whole series so I won't go into too much detail here but basically it follows the story of two teenagers who meet in Europe & spend one day together. It then follows their lives after that day and chronicles the changes that day made to them. So stay tuned for the review! Hopefully it won't take me weeks to get around to. 

If you are also on a snow/ice day I hope it is super duper relaxing & awesome for you. If you are at work/school, I'm sorry. Here's to a good week, y'all! 

Tuesday Top 10

I've decided to make today's Top 10 all about the top 10 books I am excited to read in the coming days, weeks, & months. I have all of these already, just need to find the time to get them all done!

1. Just One Day by Gayle Forman 
2. Cinder by Marissa Meyer 
3. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 
4. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare 
5. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson 
6. You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn 
7. Vanished Book 1 & 2 by Meg Cabot 
8. Beautiful Girl by Lida James
9. Yes Please by Amy Poehler
10. Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern

Slowly, I will get on all of these and maybe goodreads will start being more positive towards me.

This weekend was a busy one for us because we had family visit & we had a Superbowl party. Today's fun picture is a picture of my cat who was so GLAD when the house finally cleared out. (She is not such a fan of new people).