Blog Update!

Hey, gang! *taps mic* Is this thing on?

I just wanted to swing by and give an update on what’s been going on with me personally.  I recently got a new job, and it has been such a great new experience! For those of you that know me personally, my previous job that was really taxing and I was being treated really unfairly.  These working conditions took a toll on my anxiety and started to affect me physically. Now, I am in a much better situation and finally teaching English! Yay!

I have been blogging for a little over 5 months now (wow!) and it is my favorite thing to do. I am so thankful for the community that I have been introduced to and what I’ve wanted for so long was to just talk to a bunch of great people about the cool books I read, and with this blog I have that and I am so grateful!

Most people don’t know this, but I do write my blog posts way in advance. I post about twice a week (a book review and a blog post), and I normally have about 10+ posts in my Scheduled Posts tab — so pretty much everything I post was written a month prior. I kept a steady writing schedule so there was never a gap in my posts, or any indication showing that I was writing so far in advance.

With that being said, now that I have a new job, my responsibilities have pretty much quadrupled, and my commute also takes a lot of my time. I have about 4 posts in my Scheduled Posts tab, because I have not been writing as much anymore. I love blogging but I think in order to keep a balance with work and reading, I am going to only post once a week now.  I think that will help me feel less pressured to get content out at a certain time.

This is not a hiatus, but just a notice that I will have a little less content out for now. Once things get a little less hectic in my personal life, I will be back to writing as much as possible!

I’m thinking about posting on either Mondays or Thursdays (I kind of want to bypass all the Top Ten Tuesday/Top 5 Wednesday Tags) but let me know in the comments when would be the best time to see posts from me!

In the meantime, you can also add me as a friend on Goodreads or follow me on Instagram! I will definitely be a little more active on those platforms!

You guys are the best of the best! Thank you for all the support! I have a post coming later this week and then I’ll start the once a week schedule! See ya then!

❤ Brittany

Book Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you’ve got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices, (Goodreads).

Top 5 Wednesday: Characters You’d Cosplay

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme run by Thoughts on Tomes and Ginger Reads Lainey. The Goodreads group is linked here.

This week’s topic is Characters You’d Cosplay! I’m not much of a Cosplayer but in the spirit of Halloween, I’ll share with you my Top 5 Characters that I’d love to dress up as for Halloween!

Book Review: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost, (Goodreads).

Halloween Creatures Book Tag!

I was tagged by Melanie @ meltotheany! I had some more tags I was planning to do but I definitely wanted to get this up ASAP so I can be up for Halloween! Let’s do this!

Rules:
• Answer all prompts.
• Answer honestly.
• Tag 1-13 people.
• Link back to this post.
• Remember to credit the creator. (Anthony @ Keep Reading Forward)
• Have fun!

Audiobook Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future, (Goodreads).

Book Review: We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

From the author of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving.

Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button.

Only he isn’t sure he wants to.

After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year.

Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him.

But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever, (Goodreads).

Rant: Are We Really As Diverse As We Claim To Be?

As I become more immersed in the book community I find more and more things I want to rant about, haha.  I know I have written about the lack of diversity on the actual Booktube platform but I have noticed something else even more disturbing.

[[Edit: I wrote this post about a month ago, but I just realized this is going to be posted on National Coming Out Day! Happy NCOD to all my out and closeted LGBTQ+ babies! I love you.]]

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away, (Goodreads).

I Met Tomi Adeyemi!!

 

TOMI ADEYEMI SAID MY HAIR SMELLS GOOD AND I TOLD HER I LOVED HER BOOK!!!!

Me freaking out as Tomi is telling me how great my hair smells